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ERIC Number: EJ1479845
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Sep
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1362-3613
EISSN: EISSN-1461-7005
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Examining an Integrated Path Model of Psychological and Sociocultural Predictors of Camouflaging in Autistic Adults
Sici Zhuang1; Mackenzie Bougoure1; Dawn-Joy Leong2; Lydia Dean3; Susan Reddrop4; Kristin Naragon-Gainey1; Murray Maybery1; Diana Weiting Tan1,5; Iliana Magiati1
Autism: The International Journal of Research and Practice, v29 n9 p2328-2343 2025
Camouflaging involves various strategies employed by autistic individuals to modulate the visibility of their autistic characteristics in social situations and is thought to be primarily motivated by psychosocial factors. Most studies to date have examined a limited number of psychosocial factors related to camouflaging. This study tested an integrated model encompassing several hypothesised individual psychological (i.e. fear of negative evaluation, self-esteem, autistic identity) and broader sociocultural predictors (i.e. perceived stigma, vulnerability events, cultural tightness-looseness, independent and interdependent self-construal). Participants were 225 autistic adults (18-77 years; 60.9% female), who completed self-report measures online. Path analysis partially supported the model, explaining about 25% of the variance in camouflaging. Several sociocultural factors -- perceived stigma, cultural tightness and independent and interdependent self-construal -- were indirectly associated with camouflaging through individual psychological factors. Notably, greater vulnerability to negative life events was the only sociocultural factor directly contributing to more camouflaging, without mediation by individual psychological factors. Fear of negative evaluation emerged as a strong predictor, mediating most relationships between broader sociocultural factors and camouflaging. Our findings highlight key psychosocial factors as crucial targets for social change, advocating a shift from stigmatisation to acceptance and inclusion to alleviate the pressure on autistic people to camouflage.
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: https://sagepub.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1School of Psychological Science, The University of Western Australia, Australia; 2Independent Researcher, Singapore; 3Autistic Advisor, Australia; 4Independent Researcher, Australia; 5Macquarie University, Australia