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Brief Report: Sexual Orientation in Individuals with Autistic Traits: Population Based Study of 47,000 Adults in Stockholm County

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Abstract

We examined the association between autistic traits and sexual orientation in a general adult population (N = 47,356). Autistic traits were measured with the ten items Autistic Quotient questionnaire using a cut-off score of ≥ 6. Sexual orientation was assessed by self-report. Multinomial logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for sexual orientation categories. Participants with autistic traits were more likely to identify as bisexual (OR 1.73; 95% CI 1.01–2.9) and to feel that their sexual orientation could neither be described as hetero-, homo- nor bisexual (OR 3.05; 95% CI 2.56–3.63), compared to individuals without autistic traits. Autistic traits are associated with minority sexual orientation, and perhaps with uncertain self-identification and/or a defiance of traditional ways of categorizing sexual identity.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Henrik Dal for his kind help with data management and statistical analyses.

Funding

This work was supported by the Stockholm County Council and the Swedish Research Council (Grant # 2012–2264) (CD, KK) and the German Academic Exchange Service (Scholarship-ID # 57098520) (CR). The data linkages and staff costs have also been supported by grants from the Stockholm County Council (Grant # 2007008); Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research (Grant # 2007–2064) (AL); Swedish Research Council (Grant # 523-2010-1052) (CD); and Swedish Regional agreement on medical training and clinical research (KK, JÅ).

Author Contributions

CESR contributed to the design of the study, conducted the analyses, interpreted the data and drafted the manuscript. AL assisted in statistical analyses, contributed to the interpretation of data and critically revised the manuscript. JWÅ contributed with intellectual input to the study and interpretation of data and critically revised the manuscript. CD contributed to the acquisition of data and critically revised the manuscript. KK conceived the idea for the study, together with CESR designed the study, contributed to the interpretation of data, supervised analyses and critically revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Cancer Epidemiology, University of Lübeck, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23562, Lübeck, Germany

    Christiane E. S. Rudolph

  2. Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Tomtebodavägen 18A, Solna, 171 65, Stockholm, Sweden

    Christiane E. S. Rudolph, Andreas Lundin, Jill W. Åhs, Christina Dalman & Kyriaki Kosidou

  3. Center for Epidemiology and Community Medicine, Stockholm County Council, Stockholm, Sweden

    Christina Dalman & Kyriaki Kosidou

Authors
  1. Christiane E. S. Rudolph
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  2. Andreas Lundin
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  3. Jill W. Åhs
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  4. Christina Dalman
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  5. Kyriaki Kosidou
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christiane E. S. Rudolph.

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Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Research Involving Human Participants

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments and comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Rudolph, C.E.S., Lundin, A., Åhs, J.W. et al. Brief Report: Sexual Orientation in Individuals with Autistic Traits: Population Based Study of 47,000 Adults in Stockholm County. J Autism Dev Disord 48, 619–624 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3369-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3369-9

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