What You Are Hiding Could Be Hurting You: Autistic Masking in Relation to Mental Health, Interpersonal Trauma, Authenticity, and Self-Esteem

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Evans, J. A., Krumrei-Mancuso, E. J., & Rouse, S. V. (2023). What You Are Hiding Could Be Hurting You: Autistic Masking in Relation to Mental Health, Interpersonal Trauma, Authenticity, and Self-Esteem. Autism in Adulthood, 6(2), 229-240. https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2022.0115

Publication date: 6 Sep 2023 Added to AutiHub: 23 Aug 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
3
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 3 (33.3%)
  1. Joshua A. Evans *
  2. Elizabeth J. Krumrei-Mancuso
  3. Steven V. Rouse

Abstract

Background: Autistic masking refers to some autistic individuals' tendency to hide, suppress, or camouflage their autistic traits, autistic identity, or autism diagnosis. Autistic masking also may include unconscious or conscious attempts to mimic the behavioral, cognitive, or sensory styles of nonautistic neurotypical people and to suppress natural forms of autistic behavior, cognition, and reactions to sensory experiences. Since autistic people are a stigmatized minority in many neurotypical dominated societies, passing as nonautistic through autistic masking may be an attempt to avoid autism stigma and a reaction to previous interpersonal trauma. Increased autistic masking behaviors are associated with reports of increased depression, anxiety, burnout, and exhaustion in autistic people, and thus, exploring the roots and impact of autistic masking is an important mental health topic. Methods: This study investigated the relationships between autistic masking and depression, anxiety, gender identity, sexual orientation, interpersonal trauma, self-esteem, authenticity, and autistic community involvement. Participants were autistic adults (n = 342) recruited through autistic social media groups. Results: This study found that higher self-reported autistic masking behaviors were associated with higher reports of past interpersonal trauma, greater anxiety and depression symptoms, lower self-esteem, lower authenticity, and lower participation within the autistic community. Autistic masking was not associated with gender identity or sexual orientation. Conclusions: The results of this study highlight the relationship between autistic masking and past interpersonal trauma, finding that autistic masking behavior is associated with mental health, self-esteem, and authenticity risks for autistic adults. We call into question the teaching of autistic masking strategies in therapies and education programs for autistic people based on the negative associations with autistic masking presented in this study and other research in this field.

Bibliography cited by this reference

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Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 23 Aug 2026 00:27.

Cited references
56
With a DOI
51
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
4
5 / 56 (8.9%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
0 / 56 (0.0%)
References with detected author names
56 / 56 (100.0%)
Without detected author names
0
Without a structured title
0
Without a stable identifier
3
References with raw author names still to review
0
References with external metadata lookup issues
1
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
223
From DOI or external metadata
223
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
91 / 223 (40.8%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 132 / 223 (59.2%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
7 / 223 (3.1%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 7 / 91 (7.7%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 4 / 164 (2.4%).
2 cited bibliography entries could not be fully enriched from DOI metadata.
Crossref: not found (1) · DataCite: not found (1)
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