Table 4.
Participant characteristics
| Characteristic | Autistic adults self-report formally diagnosed (n=221) | Autistic adults self-report no formal diagnosis (n=32) | Autistic adults informant-report (n=42) | Carers (n=102) |
Non-autistic self-report (n=146) |
| Age mean (SD) | 41.8 (12.2) | 44.2 (8.1) | 32.5 (9.9) | 56.3 (11.2) | 43.7 (13.5) |
| Gender (%) | |||||
| Male | 86 (39) | 14 (44) | 34 (81) | 16 (16) | 29 (20) |
| Female | 124 (56) | 17 (53) | 8 (19) | 85 (83) | 117 (80) |
| Other | 11 (5) | 1 (3) | 0 | 1 (1) | 0 |
| *Ethnicity (%) | |||||
| Caucasian | 194 (88) | 25 (78) | 38 (90) | 86 (89) | 122 (85) |
| Other | 27 (12) | 7 (22) | 4 (9) | 11 (11) | 22 (15) |
| Multilingual (%) | 26 (12) | 5 (16) | 0 | 6 (6) | 18 (12) |
| †SEIFA decile (SD) | 6.18 (2.89) | 5.74 (3.09) | 6.58 (2.88) | 6.60 (2.78) | 7.01 (2.60) |
| †‡Rural/remoteness | |||||
| Major city | 146 (71) | 17 (55) | 32 (84) | 72 (73) | 114 (83) |
| Inner regional | 44 (21) | 10 (32) | 5 (13) | 21 (21) | 19 (14) |
| Outer regional | 12 (6) | 4 (13) | 1 (3) | 5 (5) | 5 (4) |
| Remote/very remote | 4 (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| §Living situation (%) | |||||
| Living alone | 58 (26) | 9 (28) | 3 (7) | 14 (14) | 26 (18) |
| Living as couple | 95 (43) | 18 (56) | 4 (9) | 74 (75) | 105 (72) |
| Living with parents | 31 (14) | 0 | 24 (57) | 0 | 5 (3) |
| Living with other relatives | 3 (1) | 0 | 1 (2) | 6 (6) | 3 (2) |
| Living with others | 20 (9) | 5 (16) | 8 (19) | 4 (4) | 5 (3) |
| Other | 14 (6) | 0 | 2 (5) | 1 (1) | 2 (1) |
| ¶Marital status (%) | |||||
| Single | 73 (33) | 7 (22) | 36 (86) | 4 (4) | 22 (15) |
| Married | 66 (30) | 12 (37) | 4 (9) | 65 (66) | 90 (62) |
| De facto | 17 (8) | 3 (9) | 0 | 8 (8) | 14 (9) |
| Never married | 8 (4) | 3 (9) | 2 (5) | 2 (2) | 3 (2) |
| Widowed | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 | 3 (3) | 2 (1) |
| Divorced now single | 21 (9) | 3 (9) | 0 | 8 (8) | 9 (6) |
| Divorced now remarried/de facto | 12 (5) | 2 (6) | 0 | 2 (2) | 2 (1) |
| Separated | 7 (3) | 1 (3) | 0 | 2 (2) | 1 (1) |
| Other | 16 (7) | 1 (3) | 0 | 4 (4) | 3 (2) |
| Educational status (%) | |||||
| Completed high school | 163 (76) n=215 | 20 (64) n=31 | 21 (51) n=41 | 86 (88) n=98 | 120 (86) n=139 |
| Vocational education | 61 (35) n=174 | 16 (57) n=28 | 4 (11) n=35 | 17 (17) n=98 | 20 (16) n=127 |
| University education | 113 (65) n=174 | 12 (43) n=28 | 1 (3) n=35 | 59 (60) n=98 | 107 (84) n=127 |
| **Employment (%) | |||||
| Open employment | 116 (57) | 20 (69) | 6 (15) | 59 (60) | 104 (76) |
| Student/other day activity | 38 (19) | 3 (10) | 24 (60) | 3 (3) | 17 (12) |
| Retired, no volunteering | 8 (4) | 2 (7) | 2 (5) | 19 (19) | 6 (4) |
| Homecare | 17 (8) | 3 (10) | 0 | 9 (9) | 9 (6) |
| No activity | 22 (11) | 1 (3) | 8 (20) | 9 (9) | 1 (1) |
*Ethnicity: carers, n=97; non-autistic (self-report), n=144.
†Autistic adults (diagnosis, self-report), n=209; autistic adults (no diagnosis, self-report), n=31; autistic adults (informant report), n=38; carers, n=99; non-autistic (self-report), n=138.
‡Australian population is 70% major city, 18% inner regional, 9% outer regional, 1% remote, 1% very remote in the 2011 Census.120
§Carers’ living situation: n=99.
¶Carers’ marital status: n=98.
**Employment: autistic adults (diagnosis, self-report), n=201; autistic adults (no diagnosis,self-report), n=29; autistic adults (informant report), n=40; carers, n=99; non-autistic (selfreport), n=137.
SEIFA, Socioeconomic Index for Areas.