Looking good but feeling bad: "Camouflaging" behaviors and mental health in women with autistic traits
Looking good but feeling bad: "Camouflaging" behaviors and mental health in women with autistic traits
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DOI：
10.1177/1362361320912147
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发表时间：
2020-05-01
期刊：
影响因子：
5.2
通讯作者：
South, Mikle
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Beck, Jonathan S.;Lundwall, Rebecca A.;South, Mikle
自闭症特征与频繁的心理困扰、自杀念头和日常功能挑战有关。这些关联可能在女性中尤为突出。一些有自闭症特征的女性通过努力参与预期的社交行为，在典型的社交场合“伪装”了尴尬的感觉。我们之所以探索伪装，是因为新出现的证据表明，伪装行为与心理健康、日常功能和获得心理健康护理的较差结果之间存在关联。我们招募了58名女性样本(年龄M=25岁；智商M=115)，她们报告说，她们觉得社交环境令人困惑，并且在广泛的自闭症特征指标上得分很高(广泛的自闭症表型问卷得分&3)。大多数参与者报告了严重的心理困扰、自杀意念和日常功能障碍。回归模型显示，伪装努力(伪装自闭症特质问卷)和自闭症特质(社会反应性量表，第二版)分别对心理困扰和功能挑战有适度但显著的预测作用。在一组伪装自闭症特征问卷得分较高的参与者中，伪装得分与心理困扰和功能挑战显著相关。伪装可能有助于预测临床医生何时应该关注自闭症女性更高的心理健康困境，并可能有助于对报告难以适应社会环境的女性的心理健康进行全面、多方法的评估。掩饰摘要试图隐藏或“伪装”自闭症特征的女性很可能报告说，她们感到痛苦，想到自杀，和/或在日常生活中挣扎。我们要求58名有自闭症特征的女性完成关于伪装和心理健康的问卷调查。这些女性中的大多数没有被正式诊断为自闭症，但大多数人报告说，她们掩盖了自闭症的特征，绝大多数人报告说，她们面临着重大的心理健康挑战。一些研究人员表示，与自闭症男性相比，具有自闭症特征的女性更有可能遭遇心理健康挑战，因为女性可能会通过伪装自己的自闭症特征来更好地“融入”社会。分析表明，伪装与感到痛苦(抑郁、焦虑和/或压力)有关。对于报告伪装水平高于平均水平的女性来说，伪装还与有自杀念头和难以在日常生活中发挥作用有关。试图伪装自闭症特征与心理健康挑战有关，无论这些特征是非常轻微还是更严重。这项研究的发现可能会影响精神健康专业人员如何评估和治疗具有自闭症特征的女性。
Autistic traits are associated with frequent psychological distress, suicidal ideation, and everyday functional challenges. These associations may be especially prominent in women. Some women with autistic traits "camouflage" feelings of awkwardness in typical social situations by effortfully engaging in expected social behaviors. We explored camouflaging because emerging evidence posits an association between camouflaging behaviors and poorer outcomes related to mental health, daily functioning, and access to mental health care. We recruited a sample of 58 women (age M = 25 years; IQ M = 115) who reported that they find social situations confusing and who scored high on a measure of broad autistic traits (Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire score > 3). The majority of participants reported significant levels of psychological distress, suicidal ideation, and daily functioning difficulties. Regression models showed that camouflaging efforts (Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire) and autistic traits (Social Responsiveness Scale, Second Edition) modestly but significantly predicted psychological distress and functional challenges, respectively. In a subgroup of participants with high Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire scores, camouflaging scores were significantly associated with psychological distress and functional challenges. Camouflaging may help predict when clinicians should be concerned about higher mental health distress in autistic women and may be beneficial to measure as part of a comprehensive, multimethod assessment of mental health in women who report difficulties fitting into social situations.Lay AbstractWomen who try to hide or "camouflage" their autistic traits are likely to report that they feel distressed, think of suicide, and/or struggle to function in everyday life. We asked 58 women with autistic traits to complete questionnaires about camouflaging and mental health. Most of these women did not have a formal diagnosis of autism, yet a majority reported that they camouflaged autistic traits, and a large majority reported significant mental health challenges. Some researchers have suggested that women with autistic traits are more likely than autistic men to experience mental health challenges because women may try more to "fit in" socially by camouflaging their autistic traits. Analyses showed that camouflaging was associated with feeling distressed (depressed, anxious, and/or stressed). For women who reported above-average levels of camouflaging, camouflaging was also associated with having thoughts about suicide and struggling to function in everyday life. Trying to camouflage autistic traits was associated with mental health challenges, regardless of whether those traits were very mild or more severe. The findings of this study may influence how mental health professionals evaluate and treat women with autistic traits.