Table 1.
Participant demographics
| Autistic group | Non-autistic group | Effect size | p values | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quantitative sample demographics (1183 autistic individuals, 1203 non-autistic individuals) | |||||
| Age, years | 41·04 (14·41) | 41·86 (15·59) | 0·019* | 0·34 | |
| Age categories, years | |||||
| 16–29 | 303 (25·61%) | 311 (25·85%) | .. | .. | |
| 30–39 | 250 (21·13%) | 240 (19·95%) | .. | .. | |
| 40–49 | 252 (21·30%) | 252 (20·95%) | .. | .. | |
| 50–59 | 214 (18·09%) | 206 (17·12%) | .. | .. | |
| 60–69 | 113 (9·55%) | 127 (10·56%) | .. | .. | |
| ≥70 | 25 (2·11%) | 52 (4·32%) | .. | .. | |
| Missing | 26 (2·20%) | 15 (1·25%) | .. | .. | |
| Biological sex | .. | .. | 0·058* | 0·0045 | |
| Female | 746 (63·06%) | 825 (68·58%) | .. | .. | |
| Male | 437 (36·94%) | 378 (31·42%) | .. | .. | |
| Ethnicity | .. | .. | 0·055* | 0·0068 | |
| White | 1045 (88·33%) | 1020 (84·78%) | .. | .. | |
| Non-White | 135 (11·42%) | 183 (15·21%) | .. | .. | |
| Missing | 3 (0·25%) | 0 | .. | .. | |
| Education | .. | .. | 0·094† | <0·0001 | |
| No formal qualifications | 57 (4·82%) | 14 (1·16%) | .. | .. | |
| Further vocational qualifications | 215 (18·17%) | 138 (11·47%) | .. | .. | |
| Secondary school or high school | 211 (17·84%) | 171 (14·21%) | .. | .. | |
| University undergraduate | 354 (29·92%) | 354 (29·43%) | .. | .. | |
| University postgraduate | 344 (29·08%) | 523 (43·47%) | .. | .. | |
| Missing | 2 (0·17%) | 3 (0·25%) | .. | .. | |
| Country of residence | .. | .. | 0·053* | <0·0001 | |
| UK | 842 (71·17%) | 759 (63·09%) | .. | .. | |
| USA | 120 (10·14%) | 174 (14·46%) | .. | .. | |
| Germany | 31 (2·62%) | 33 (2·74%) | .. | .. | |
| Australia | 33 (2·79%) | 20 (1·66%) | .. | .. | |
| Other | 156 (13·19%) | 214 (17·79%) | .. | .. | |
| Missing | 1 (0·08%) | 3 (0·25%) | .. | .. | |
| Intellectual disability | .. | .. | 0·071* | 0·00054 | |
| Self-identified | 21 (1·78%) | 4 (0·33%) | .. | .. | |
| Qualitative sample demographics (429 autistic individuals, 490 non-autistic individuals) | |||||
| Age, years | 40·95 (14·42%) | 41·81 (15·60%) | −0·047* | 0·15 | |
| Age categories, years | |||||
| 16–29 | 76 (17·72%) | 120 (24·49%) | .. | .. | |
| 30–39 | 108 (25·17%) | 114 (23·27%) | .. | .. | |
| 40–49 | 128 (29·84%) | 121 (24·69%) | .. | .. | |
| 50–59 | 64 (14·92%) | 77 (15·71%) | .. | .. | |
| 60–69 | 35 (8·16%) | 45 (9·18%) | .. | .. | |
| ≥70 | 10 (2·33%) | 8 (1·63%) | .. | .. | |
| Missing | 8 (1·86%) | 5 (1·02%) | .. | .. | |
| Biological sex | .. | .. | 0·047* | 0·13 | |
| Female | 278 (64·80%) | 291 (59·39%) | .. | .. | |
| Male | 150 (34·97%) | 199 (40·61%) | .. | .. | |
| Other | 1 (0·23%) | 0 | .. | .. | |
| Ethnicity | .. | .. | 0·057* | 0·083 | |
| White | 383 (89·28%) | 421 (85·92%) | .. | .. | |
| Non-White | 44 (10·26%) | 69 (14·08%) | .. | .. | |
| Missing | 2 (0·47%) | 0 | .. | .. | |
| Education | .. | .. | 0·10† | <0·0001 | |
| No formal qualifications | 15 (3·50%) | 9 (1·84%) | .. | .. | |
| Further vocational qualifications | 84 (19·58%) | 59 (12·04%) | .. | .. | |
| Secondary school or high school | 70 (16·32%) | 47 (9·59%) | .. | .. | |
| University undergraduate | 142 (33·10%) | 150 (30·61%) | .. | .. | |
| University postgraduate | 118 (27·51%) | 225 (45·92%) | .. | .. | |
| Missing | 0 | 0 | .. | .. | |
| Country of residence | .. | .. | 0·060* | 0·0099 | |
| UK | 300 (69·93%) | 289 (58·98%) | .. | .. | |
| USA | 49 (11·42%) | 82 (16·73%) | .. | .. | |
| Germany | 13 (3·03%) | 13 (2·65%) | .. | .. | |
| Australia | 8 (1·86%) | 10 (2·04%) | .. | .. | |
| Other | 59 (13·76%) | 96 (19·59%) | .. | .. | |
| Missing | 0 | 1 (<1%) | .. | .. | |
Data are mean (SD) or n (%). p-values and effect sizes were from Pearson's χ2 tests (for binary or categorical covariates) or from a Mann-Whitney U test (test of differences in means for continuous covariates). Effect sizes were based on measures of Phi (φ) for binary covariates or Cramér's V (V) for categorical covariates, or for measures of r (equal to Z statistic/✓[sample size]) for continuous covariates. All records with missing outcome data were excluded from the relevant test.
*
Indicates a small effect.
†
Indicates a small-to-medium effect.