6.22 Co-Occurring Mental Health Diagnoses in Transgender and Gender-Diverse Adolescents With ASD

Adolescents with ASD identify as transgender or gender-diverse (TGD) at higher rates than the general population. Given that both adolescents with ASD and TGD adolescents face numerous psychosocial stressors, it is possible that adolescents at the intersection may be at particularly high risk of developing psychiatric difficulties. Some evidence from clinically referred samples suggests that this is indeed the case. However, no study has yet examined the relationship between TGD identity and mental health diagnoses in a large, general, nonclinically referred ASD sample.