Camouflaging in an everyday social context: An interpersonal recall study

Abstract

Camouflaging is a social phenomenon operating within everyday social interactions of autistic and non-autistic people. The current study explored autistic adults’ camouflaging in an everyday social context via interpersonal process recall methodology (Kegan, 1969). A total of 17 autistic adults (8 females, 6 males and 3 agender/gender-neutral individuals) participated in a 10-min controlled social task designed to replicate a common day-to-day social situation. Participants then watched a video of their interaction with a researcher, actively identifying instances of camouflaging and discussing their experiences of camouflaging. Using thematic analysis, four themes were generated: (1) a strong desire for, yet uncertainty in, securing social acceptance and connection; (2) camouflaging, developed over time, as a means to achieve social acceptance and connection; (3) experiencing intrapersonal and interpersonal camouflaging consequences during social interactions; and (4) authentic socialising as an alternative to camouflaging. These findings are discussed with reference to the existing literature on stigma management outside the field of autism. Lay abstract Many autistic people report that, despite personal costs, they use strategies to hide their autistic characteristics or appear non-autistic at work, school or university, when speaking with health professionals, or while socialising with certain friends and family members. These strategies are often referred to as camouflaging. This study explores camouflaging during everyday social interactions. A total of 17 autistic adults were filmed taking part in a common everyday social situation – a conversation with a stranger. They then watched the video of this conversation with a researcher and answered questions about camouflaging. These autistic people told us that they (1) had a strong desire to socialise with and be valued by other people but, because of negative past experiences, they often felt unsure about their ability to do so; (2) used camouflaging to help them to socialise and be valued by others; (3) experienced negative consequences when camouflaging (e.g. fatigue, anxiety and difficulties in friendships); and (4) sometimes socialised in more autistic ways instead of camouflaging. This study shows us how autistic people often change their behaviour because of the way they are treated by nonautistic people and that autistic people may benefit from programmes that help them to socialise in more authentically autistic ways, but only if their autistic social behaviour is met with understanding and acceptance from non-autistic people.

“Masking Is Life”: Experiences of Masking in Autistic and Nonautistic Adults

“…38 Participants in this study referred to external (social) influence as the main driving factor in masking, including self-protection, fear of repercussion, and negative consequences, which is consistent with previous research. 19,39 Social identity theory 38 provides a framework for understanding how aspects of our identity may fluctuate in different contexts to ''fit in.'' These strategies have traditionally been described in terms of signaling like-mindedness and expressing different aspects of identity 40 rather than identity suppression.…”

“…There is currently very little known about the native social affiliation methods used by autistic and other neurodivergent people and how these may differ to NT people. 39 If we are to understand masking, it is important that we develop a good understanding of social identity across neurotypes.…”

Camouflaging in autism: A systematic review

“…Each study was independently rated by two reviewers (i.e., either JC and LC or WM and LH). Reviewers did not assess studies for which they were also authors, with the exception of one study (Cook et al, 2021) on which all four reviewers were authors. To ensure consistency, pairs of reviewers met separately and then as a whole group to discuss their interpretation and application of each of the MMAT criteria regarding the included studies.…”

“…The majority of studies (n = 23) involved solely quantitative methodologies and a further three used mixed methods designs (Cage et al, 2018;Jedrzejewska & Dewey, 2021;Livingston et al, 2020). Three studies involving chiefly qualitative design were included because each included a quantitative measure of camouflaging (Cook et al, 2021;Hull et al, 2017;Livingston, Shah, & Happé et al, 2019).…”

Global perspectives on autism acceptance, camouflaging behaviours and mental health in autism spectrum disorder: A registered report protocol

“…Camouflaging can be defined as “the use of strategies by autistic people to minimise the visibility of their autism in social situations” [ 38 ]. These strategies can involve compensation, whereby autistic individuals develop behaviours to help them manage social situations (e.g., learning how to use eye contact or developing scripts to help them navigate social interactions; [ 38 , 39 ]), and masking, whereby autistic individuals aim to hide their autistic traits (e.g., deliberately suppressing stimming behaviours; [ 38 ]). Whilst the vast majority of autistic individuals report camouflaging to some degree [ 38 ], there are indications that camouflaging may be more common among women [ 40 – 48 ] and those higher in autistic traits [ 40 , 49 – 51 ].…”