ArticleThe International journal of social psychiatry2024
Camouflaging, internalized stigma, and mental health in the general population.
Article in The International journal of social psychiatry, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Autistic Traits and Camouflaging: A Meta-Analysis.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2026Pooled it
- A meta-analytic review of quantification methods for camouflaging behaviors in autistic and neurotypical individuals.Scientific reports · 2025Pooled it
- "I Try to Act Like a Neurotypical so it Makes Customers More Comfortable": A Mixed Methods Analysis of Autistic Camouflaging at Work.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- A Cross-Neurotype Analysis of Camouflaging and Illness Perceptions in People with Central Sensitivity Syndromes.Autism in adulthood · 2026Article
- Untangling Sex and Gender Differences in Impression Management and Associated Autism Features in French Autistic Adults.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2026Article
- A novel context-discrepancy assessment of impression management facets in autistic and non-autistic adults: an initial validation.Molecular autism · 2026Article
- The impact of autism on the relations between social anxiety, camouflaging, and depression in Taiwanese adolescents.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2026Article
- Article
- Self-reported mental health effects of unemployment on young people in Mdantsane, South Africa: A qualitative study.The South African journal of psychiatry : SAJP : the journal of the Society of Psychiatrists of South Africa · 2026Article
- Quality-of-life assessment in autistic adults with lower support needs: gaps and emerging challenges.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Review
- Masking, social context and perceived stress in autistic adults: An ecological momentary assessment study.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2025Article
- Intentional use and self-efficacy as distinct facets of impression management and their relationships with socio-motivational, cognitive, and mental health factors.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Self-reported masking in sexual minority and heterosexual autistic adults.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2025Article
- Camouflaging depression.Discover mental health · 2025Article
- What We Know and Do Not Know About Camouflaging, Impression Management, and Mental Health and Wellbeing in Autistic People.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2025Review
- Autoethnographic Insights from Neurodivergent GAI "Power Users".Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems. CHI Conference · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCamouflaging, the strategies that some autistic people use to hide their differences, has been hypothesized to trigger mental health ramifications. Camouflaging might reflect ubiquitous impression management experiences that are not unique to autistic people and similarly impact the mental health of non-autistic people.
aimsWe first examined whether individuals in the general population camouflage and manage impressions while experiencing mental health repercussions, and how gender and neurodivergent traits modified these associations. We then assessed how camouflaging and impression management arose from internalized stigma, and their inter-relationships in shaping mental health outcomes.
methodsData were collected from 972 adults from a representative U.S. general population sample, with measures pertaining to camouflaging, impression management, mental health, internalized stigma, and neurodivergent traits. Multivariate hierarchical regression and moderated mediation analyses were used to address the two research aims.
resultsBoth camouflaging and self-presentation (a key component of impression management) were associated with mental health presentations in the general population, which overlapped with those previously reported in autistic people. These associations were more pronounced in women compared with men and were of different directions for individuals with higher autistic traits versus higher ADHD traits. Internalized stigma might be a key stressor that could elicit camouflaging and impression management through social anxiety, which in turn might lead to adverse mental health outcomes.
conclusionsThese findings advance the conceptual clarity and clinical relevance of camouflaging and impression management across social and neurodiverse groups in the general population. The ramifications of camouflaging and impression management underscore the need to alleviate internalized stigma for better mental health across human groups.
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