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. 2018 Dec;48(12):3984-3994.
doi: 10.1007/s10803-018-3557-2.

Autistic Traits in Treatment-Seeking Transgender Adults

Anna Nobili  1   2 , Cris Glazebrook  3 , Walter Pierre Bouman  1 , Derek Glidden  1   4 , Simon Baron-Cohen  5 , Carrie Allison  5 , Paula Smith  5 , Jon Arcelus  1   2
Affiliations

Autistic Traits in Treatment-Seeking Transgender Adults

Anna Nobili et al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2018 Dec.

Abstract

The present study aimed to compare prevalence of autistic traits measured by the self-reported autism spectrum quotient-short (AQ-short) in a transgender clinical population (n = 656) matched by age and sex assigned at birth to a cisgender community sample. Results showed that transgender and cisgender people reported similar levels of possible autistic caseness. Transgender people assigned female were more likely to have clinically significant autistic traits compared to any other group. No difference was found between those assigned male. High AQ scores may not be indicative of the presence of an autism spectrum condition as the difference between groups mainly related to social behaviours; such scores may be a reflection of transgender people's high social anxiety levels due to negative past experiences.

Keywords: Autism spectrum conditions; Autism spectrum quotient (AQ); Autistic traits; Social anxiety; Social issues; Transgender.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow chart of exclusion and matching procedures
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Estimated marginal means of AQ-short total scores for transgender and cisgender groups, by sex assigned at birth
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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