Autism and transgender identity: Implications for depression and anxiety

Jennifer Murphy; Freya Prentice; Reubs Walsh; Caroline Catmur; Geoffrey Bird

doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2019.101466

Autism and transgender identity: Implications for depression and anxiety

Jennifer Murphy^*, Freya Prentice, Reubs Walsh, Caroline Catmur, Geoffrey Bird

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Autistic traits are over-represented in transgender populations, and gender variance is high in autistic individuals. Furthermore, some evidence suggests that the autism/transgender overlap is limited to individuals sex assigned female. Few studies, however, have investigated the impact of this overlap on mental health. This study therefore sought to investigate whether the autism/transgender overlap confers an increased risk of depression or anxiety. An online study of 727 individuals revealed a substantial overlap between transgender identity and autism, with increased autistic traits found in trans men compared to trans women. Depression and anxiety were highest in autistic-trans individuals, but no superadditive effect was observed. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the wider healthcare system.

Original language	English
Article number	101466
Journal	Research in autism spectrum disorders
Volume	69
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2019.101466
Publication status	Published - 1 Jan 2020

Keywords

Anxiety
Autism
Depression
Gender identity
Gender variance
Transgender

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AB - Autistic traits are over-represented in transgender populations, and gender variance is high in autistic individuals. Furthermore, some evidence suggests that the autism/transgender overlap is limited to individuals sex assigned female. Few studies, however, have investigated the impact of this overlap on mental health. This study therefore sought to investigate whether the autism/transgender overlap confers an increased risk of depression or anxiety. An online study of 727 individuals revealed a substantial overlap between transgender identity and autism, with increased autistic traits found in trans men compared to trans women. Depression and anxiety were highest in autistic-trans individuals, but no superadditive effect was observed. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the wider healthcare system.

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