Dina Borisovna Nemtsova, FCLC 2026

Major: Psychology, pre-health concentration

Bio: Dina is a senior majoring in Psychology on the pre-med track. She has been a member of the Fordham Memory and Aging Lab since Spring 2025. Working with her faculty mentor, Dr. Karen Siedlecki, Dina completed a study titled “Camouflaging and Mental Health in Autistic Adults Across Sex Assigned at Birth,” funded by the FCLC Research and Creative Practice Grants. She presented a poster on the study at the 2026 EPA Annual Conference. Dina plans to apply to medical school after graduation.

Title of Research: Camouflaging and Mental Health in Autistic Adults Across Sex Assigned at Birth

Mentor: Karen Siedlecki, Psychology

Abstract: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by differences in social communication and behavior. In clinical samples, autistic men outnumber autistic women by roughly 3 to 1 (Loomes et al., 2017), suggesting that many autistic women remain unidentified or receive a diagnosis only in adulthood (Lockwood et al., 2021). One reason autism may be underdiagnosed is because of camouflaging behaviors: the use of strategies to reduce the visibility of autistic traits (Hull et al., 2019). Camouflaging can facilitate social inclusion but may be psychologically costly, potentially contributing to rising rates of depression, anxiety (Hull et al., 2021), and stress (Bernardin et al., 2021) in autistic populations.

We administered an online survey to 508 autistic adults, diagnosed (n=280) or self-identifying (n=228), and found that, after controlling for covariates, higher levels of camouflaging were associated with higher levels of stress, but not higher levels of depression or anxiety. Subsequent analyses examining the associations between camouflaging subscales and mental health showed domain-specific links, with masking–depression associations stronger for males. Overall, these findings add to evidence that camouflaging is associated with significant psychological strain in autistic adults, independent of formal diagnosis status.