Greater gender diversity among autistic children by self-report and parent-report

Emerging research suggests overrepresentation of gender diversity among autistic youth. Previous gender diversity research with autistic children has relied on parent-report based on a single question. The Gender Diversity Screening Questionnaire–Self-Report and Parent-Report assessed gender diversity experiences from 244 children (140 autism spectrum disorder and 104 typically developing), between 10 and 13 years, and their parents. Parent-report Child Behavior Checklist Item-110, “Wishes to be the opposite sex,” was also collected. Autistic children endorsed higher Gender Diversity Screening Questionnaire–Self-Report Binary Gender Diversity, t(223.21) = –2.83, adjusted p = 0.02, d = –0.35, and Nonbinary Gender Diversity, t(191.15) = –3.79, adjusted p = 0.001, d = –0.46, than typically developing children. Similarly, for Gender Diversity Screening Questionnaire–Parent-Report, there was a significant gender-body incongruence difference between the groups, t(189.59) = –2.28, adjusted p = 0.05, d = –0.30. Within-group analyses revealed that parents of autistic females-assigned-at-birth reported significantly more gender-body incongruence than males-assigned-at-birth, t(32.91) = –3.78, p