Towards identifying Autistic adults at risk for eating disorders: A brief report into clustering of social camouflaging and sensory processing differences

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.

Conclusions

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.