Sex Differences and Parent–Teacher Discrepancies in Reports of Autism Traits: Evidence for Camouflaging in a School Setting

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

About the autistic author marker

Putnam, O., McFayden, T., & Harrop, C. (2024). Sex Differences and Parent–Teacher Discrepancies in Reports of Autism Traits: Evidence for Camouflaging in a School Setting. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 55(11), 3888-3899. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-024-06498-w

Publication date: 26 Jul 2024 Added to AutiHub: 27 Sep 2026 Type: Article Article language: English

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
3
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 3 (33.3%)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine sex differences and informant discrepancies in parent- and teacher-reports of autism traits. Data were drawn from the Simons Simplex Collection to create a sex-matched sample of autistic youth (N = 388; 4-17 years). Included participants had both parent and teacher reports of autistic traits from the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS). Within each sex group, parent and teacher raw SRS scores were compared. Scores within each informant group (parent/teacher) was assessed for sex differences. Predictors of parent-teacher discrepancies were examined. Despite no sex differences in parent-reported autistic traits, teachers reported males as having more autistic traits compared to females. Parents of females reported significantly more autistic traits than teachers across multiple domains. Being older and female were significant predictors of increased parent-teacher discrepancy for multiple domains. These results suggest discrepancies between the observed autistic traits for females at home and school and builds on the growing body of literature highlighting potential camouflaging across development in autistic youth: parent-teacher discrepancies may reflect ways that autistic females are overlooked by teachers due to conscious changes in behavior or gender-based expectations of female characteristics. Discussion of discrepancies on an individual basis may therefore alleviate potential long-term consequences of camouflaging.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

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: 2 Oct 2026 07:58.

Cited references
65
With a DOI
60
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
5
7 / 65 (10.8%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
5 / 65 (7.7%)
References with detected author names
60 / 65 (92.3%)
Without detected author names
5
Without a structured title
5
Without a stable identifier
5
References with raw author names still to review
5
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
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
351
From DOI or external metadata
351
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
8
141 / 351 (40.2%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 210 / 351 (59.8%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
7 / 351 (2.0%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 7 / 141 (5.0%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 6 / 285 (2.1%).
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