Gender Incongruence and Autistic Traits: Cerebral and Behavioral Underpinnings

Gender dysphoria and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) co-occur at high rates. Yet, it is unknown whether gender dysphoria and ASD are associated with common or distinct neurobiological correlates or how they relate to experiences of gender-related body incongruence. Using the Social Responsiveness Sca...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Archives of sexual behavior 2024-05, Vol.53 (5), p.1873-1884
Main Authors: Khorashad, Behzad S., Wang, Yanlu, Holmberg, Mats, Dhejne, Cecilia, Savic, Ivanka
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Autism
Autism Spectrum Disorder - psychology
Autistic Disorder - psychology
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Body Image - psychology
Brain - diagnostic imaging
Brain research
Cerebral Cortex - diagnostic imaging
Cerebral Cortex - pathology
Female
Gender dysphoria
Gender Dysphoria - psychology
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Medicin och hälsovetenskap
Original Paper
Psychology
Public Health
Sexual Behavior
Social Sciences
Temporal Lobe - diagnostic imaging
Temporal Lobe - pathology
Transgender persons
Transgender Persons - psychology
Transsexualism - psychology
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Gender dysphoria and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) co-occur at high rates. Yet, it is unknown whether gender dysphoria and ASD are associated with common or distinct neurobiological correlates or how they relate to experiences of gender-related body incongruence. Using the Social Responsiveness Scale, we assessed autistic traits in 99 transgender and 99 cisgender individuals and investigated their associations with gender-related body incongruence, measured via a visually based “Body Morph” test, and with cortical thickness in the brain. Autistic traits were significantly higher among transgender individuals, and those with higher autistic traits had higher body incongruence scoring. Among transgender individuals, higher autistic traits were linked with a thinner cortex bilaterally in the temporal pole and the superior and inferior temporal gyri. Autistic traits were only partly associated with cortical morphology patterns previously reported in transgender individuals; instead, they were primarily linked to temporal lobe areas mediating social cognition. While replicating the previous literature on the increased prevalence of autistic traits among transgender individuals, this study reports specific regions in the brains of transgender individuals where cortical thickness is associated with autistic traits.
ISSN:0004-0002
1573-2800
1573-2800
DOI:10.1007/s10508-024-02809-5