Towards Identifying Autistic Adults at Risk for Eating Disorders: A Brief Report Into Clustering of Social Camouflaging and Sensory Processing Differences

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Nimbley, E., Bradley, S., Pickard, A., Sader, M., Maloney, E., Moore, F. R., Suratwala, T., Sharpe, H., Duffy, F., & Gillespie‐Smith, K. (2025). Towards Identifying Autistic Adults at Risk for Eating Disorders: A Brief Report Into Clustering of Social Camouflaging and Sensory Processing Differences. European Eating Disorders Review, 34(3), 648-654. https://doi.org/10.1002/erv.70062

Publication date: 2 Dec 2025 Added to AutiHub: 6 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
10
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 10 (10.0%)
  1. Emy Nimbley
  2. Siofra Bradley
  3. Abi Pickard
  4. Michelle Sader
  5. Ellen Maloney *
  1. Fhionna R. Moore
  2. Tasha Suratwala
  3. Helen Sharpe
  4. Fiona Duffy
  5. Karri Gillespie‐Smith

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Autistic people with an eating disorder (ED) are at higher risk of poorer treatment outcomes and experiences, perhaps due to a lack of understanding surrounding underlying mechanisms. Several factors have been implicated, such as sensory processing and social camouflaging; however, there has been little empirical investigation into how such mechanisms group or cluster together, and if certain clusters place the individual at greater risk of ED severity. METHOD: A secondary data analysis was conducted on an online survey of n = 180 Autistic adults (mean age = 38 years). Participants completed self-reported measures of sensory processing, social camouflaging and ED symptoms. Hierarchal clustering analyses (HCA) was conducted to explore clustering on sensory and social camouflaging behaviours, and a one-way ANOVA was conducted to explore between-cluster differences on ED symptoms. RESULTS: Three distinct clusters were identified: Cluster 1 (high camouflaging, low sensory); Cluster 2 (high camouflaging, high sensory); and Cluster 3 (low camouflaging, average sensory). Participants in Cluster 2 reported significantly higher ED symptoms that those in Cluster 3. There were no significant differences between remaining clusters. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest the combination of these factors may place Autistic individuals at higher ED risk, although future longitudinal, mixed-method and more representative research, which considers a wider range of risk mechanisms, is urgently needed before conclusions can be drawn.

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Cited references
45
Total cited references integrated for this publication.
Cited references with an identified autistic author
6 / 45 (13.3%)
Cited author occurrences identified as autistic
9 / 261 (3.4%)
Among occurrences linked to AutiHub author records: 9 / 98 (9.2%). Distinct cited authors identified as autistic: 7 / 208 (3.4%).
Cited author occurrences linked to AutiHub author records
98 / 261 (37.5%)
Distinct linked cited authors: 57 / 208 (27.4%)
Linked cited-author occurrences not identified as autistic
89 / 98 (90.8%)
Among linked cited-author occurrences only. Across all cited-author occurrences: 89 / 261 (34.1%). Distinct linked cited authors not identified as autistic: 50 / 57 (87.7%).
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