ArticleHealth psychology report2026
Sex/gender differences in the level and variability of autistic traits: a meta-analysis of the Autism-Spectrum Quotient.
Article in Health psychology report, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Examining the association between autistic traits and psychopathology in the general population: are there sex differences?European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Article
- Sex Differences in Adult Autism Screening: A Comparison of Current Self-Report and Retrospective Parent-Report Measures.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe objective of this meta-analysis was to assess the influence of sex/gender on the level and variability of autistic traits in both autistic and neurotypical samples. PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE: A systematic search was conducted in the PubMed and EBSCOhost databases in April and May 2019 as well as September 2020. Studies were included if they contained information about mean (
resultsA total of 307 articles were chosen for further analysis with 634 786 participants in the studies evaluating the effect of sex/gender on the level of autistic traits and 495 840 individuals in the analyses examining the effect of sex/gender on the variability of autistic traits. Sex/gender moderated mainly the level of total autistic traits score (
conclusionsThese findings suggest that males/men tend to display more pronounced and varied autistic traits than females/women. Further research is necessary to gain a better understanding of the scope and nature of these sex/gender differences.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.