The Relationship Between Camouflaging and Lifetime Depression Among Adult Autistic Males and Females

Objective: We aimed to investigate the relationship between camouflaging and lifetime depression among autistic people, along with the role of sex in this relationship. Methods: Sixty-five autistic subjects with no intellectual or language disability (34 females, 31 males), presenting to an outpatient service for the treatment of concurrent mental disorders, were administered module A of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 Disorders, the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ), and the Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire (CAT-Q). Results: No differences were found in CAT-Q total or domain scores across sexes. Subjects with lifetime depression reported significantly higher scores than those without for all CAT-Q scores, with depressed women often reporting the highest scores among the groups. The difference between depressed and non-depressed women was significant for all but the CAT-Q assimilation score. The CAT-Q total score significantly predicted lifetime depression (B = 0.053, p = 0.003) when controlling for age, sex, and the AQ total score. Conclusions: Our study expands the extant knowledge about the role of camouflaging in the mental wellbeing of autistic people by showing a correlation between camouflaging and depressive disorders throughout the lifetime among both males and females.