Examining the association between autistic traits and psychopathology in the general population: are there sex differences?

Abstract Introduction Autistic traits (ATs) are linked to increased vulnerability to psychopathology. While sex differences are studied in clinical autism, little is known about these associations in the general population. This study examines sex-specific associations between ATs and psychopathology in a community sample of adolescents and young adults. Methods Data from 788 participants (475 females), aged 15–35 years (mean = 17.48 ± 3.60) in the TwinssCan cohort were used. ATs were assessed using Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ), while psychopathology and psychosis expression were measured with the Symptom Checklist-90 Revised (SCL-90) and Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences (CAPE). Sex-stratified linear regression models examined associations with SCL-90 and CAPE scores. Chow’s test was used for exploratory sex comparisons. Results In both sexes, total AQ scores were positively associated with the total SCL-90 score and all its subscales, as well as with total CAPE and all its subscales. No significant sex difference was found for either total SCL-90 or total CAPE. In exploratory post-hoc comparisons, a nominally statistically significant sex difference was observed for the obsessive–compulsive SCL-90 subscale ( p = 0.03), where AQ accounted for 5.6% of the variance in males compared to 15.86% in females. A nominally statistically significant sex difference was found in the CAPE depressive subscale as well ( p = 0.03), where AQ explained 4.78% of the variance in males versus 13.53% in females. Discussion The findings highlight that ATs relate to broad psychopathology across sexes, whereas domain-specific sex differences emerged in exploratory post-hoc comparisons. Future studies should replicate findings in clinical and longitudinal samples.