Autistic and non-autistic transgender youth are similar in gender development and sexuality phenotypes

Abigail L Fischbach; Andy Hindenach; Anna I R van der Miesen; Ji Seung Yang; Olivia J Buckley; Minneh Song; Laura Campos; John F Strang

doi:10.1111/bjdp.12486

Autistic and non-autistic transgender youth are similar in gender development and sexuality phenotypes

Br J Dev Psychol. 2024 Apr 13. doi: 10.1111/bjdp.12486. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Abigail L Fischbach^{1

2}, Andy Hindenach^{1

2}, Anna I R van der Miesen^{3

4}, Ji Seung Yang⁵, Olivia J Buckley^{1

2}, Minneh Song^{1

2}, Laura Campos^{1

2}, John F Strang^{1

2

6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Neuropsychology, Children's National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA.
² Center for Neuroscience, Children's National Research Institute, Children's National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA.
³ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Center of Expertise on Gender Dysphoria, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Location Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
⁴ Margaret and Wallace McCain Centre for Child, Youth & Family Mental Health, Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
⁵ Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA.
⁶ Department of Pediatrics, George Washington University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, USA.
⁷ Department of Psychiatry, and Behavioral Sciences, George Washington University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, USA.

PMID: 38613223
DOI: 10.1111/bjdp.12486

Abstract

Increasing rhetoric regarding the common intersection of autism and gender diversity has resulted in legislation banning autistic transgender youth from accessing standard of care supports, as well as legislative efforts banning all youth gender care in part justified by the proportional over-occurrence of autism. Yet, no study has investigated whether autistic and non-autistic transgender youth present fundamentally different gender-related phenotypes. To address this gap, we extensively characterized autism, gender diversity, and sexuality among autistic and non-autistic transgender binary youth (N = 66, M_age = 17.17, SD_age = 2.12) in order to investigate similarities and/or differences in gender and sexuality phenotypes. Neither autism diagnostic status nor continuous autistic traits were significantly related to any gender or sexuality phenotypes. These findings suggest that the developmental and experiential features of gender diversity are very similar between autistic and non-autistic transgender adolescents. Future research is needed to determine whether the similarity in profiles is maintained over time into adulthood.

Keywords: autistic; gender; sexuality.

Grants and funding

NH/NIH HHS/United States