Evans Joshua A, Krumrei-Mancuso Elizabeth J, Rouse Steven V
Department of Psychology, Pepperdine University, Malibu, California, USA.
Autism Adulthood. 2024 Jun 17;6(2):229-240. doi: 10.1089/aut.2022.0115. eCollection 2024 Jun.
Autistic masking refers to some autistic individuals' tendency to hide, suppress, or camouflage their autistic traits, autistic identity, or autism diagnosis. Autistic masking also may include unconscious or conscious attempts to mimic the behavioral, cognitive, or sensory styles of nonautistic neurotypical people and to suppress natural forms of autistic behavior, cognition, and reactions to sensory experiences. Since autistic people are a stigmatized minority in many neurotypical dominated societies, passing as nonautistic through autistic masking may be an attempt to avoid autism stigma and a reaction to previous interpersonal trauma. Increased autistic masking behaviors are associated with reports of increased depression, anxiety, burnout, and exhaustion in autistic people, and thus, exploring the roots and impact of autistic masking is an important mental health topic.
This study investigated the relationships between autistic masking and depression, anxiety, gender identity, sexual orientation, interpersonal trauma, self-esteem, authenticity, and autistic community involvement. Participants were autistic adults ( = 342) recruited through autistic social media groups.
This study found that higher self-reported autistic masking behaviors were associated with higher reports of past interpersonal trauma, greater anxiety and depression symptoms, lower self-esteem, lower authenticity, and lower participation within the autistic community. Autistic masking was not associated with gender identity or sexual orientation.
The results of this study highlight the relationship between autistic masking and past interpersonal trauma, finding that autistic masking behavior is associated with mental health, self-esteem, and authenticity risks for autistic adults. We call into question the teaching of autistic masking strategies in therapies and education programs for autistic people based on the negative associations with autistic masking presented in this study and other research in this field.
自闭症掩饰是指一些自闭症个体隐藏、抑制或伪装其自闭症特征、自闭症身份或自闭症诊断的倾向。自闭症掩饰还可能包括无意识或有意识地试图模仿非自闭症神经典型人群的行为、认知或感官方式，并抑制自闭症行为、认知和对感官体验的自然反应形式。由于在许多由神经典型人群主导的社会中，自闭症患者是受到污名化的少数群体，通过自闭症掩饰来表现得像非自闭症患者可能是一种避免自闭症污名的尝试，也是对先前人际创伤的一种反应。自闭症掩饰行为的增加与自闭症患者中抑郁、焦虑、倦怠和疲惫感增加的报告相关，因此，探究自闭症掩饰的根源和影响是一个重要的心理健康话题。
本研究调查了自闭症掩饰与抑郁、焦虑、性别认同、性取向、人际创伤、自尊、真实性和自闭症群体参与度之间的关系。参与者是通过自闭症社交媒体群组招募的成年自闭症患者（n = 342）。
本研究发现，自我报告的自闭症掩饰行为越高，与过去人际创伤的报告越高、焦虑和抑郁症状越严重、自尊越低、真实性越低以及在自闭症群体中的参与度越低相关。自闭症掩饰与性别认同或性取向无关。
本研究结果突出了自闭症掩饰与过去人际创伤之间的关系，发现自闭症掩饰行为与成年自闭症患者的心理健康、自尊和真实性风险相关。基于本研究及该领域其他研究中所呈现的与自闭症掩饰的负面关联，我们对自闭症治疗和教育项目中教授自闭症掩饰策略提出质疑。
