The Relationship of Perceived Stigma, Diagnosis Disclosure, and Mental Health in Autistic Students

Abstract

Autistic students attending higher education are confronted with many obstacles every day, including social interactions, organizing, and overstimulation. In order to counteract those challenges, they may choose to not disclose their diagnosis in an attempt to blend in better and avoid stigmatization, which may have serious implications for their mental health. The current study aims to answer the question “Is there a relationship between perceived stigma and mental health in autistic students, and is this mediated by their diagnosis disclosure?”. It is hypothesized that high perceived stigma is associated with worse mental health and that higher perceived stigma is associated with decreased diagnosis disclosure, which is associated with worse mental health. Using an online survey, perceived stigma, mental health, and diagnosis disclosure in autistic students attending Polish post-secondary education was investigated. The data of 76 diagnosed autistic students enrolled in post-secondary education (M = 22.2, SD = 1.76) was used. A mediation analysis using model 4 of Hayes’ PROCESS macro for SPSS (Hayes, 2022) was conducted to test both hypotheses. The effect of perceived stigma on mental health was significant (b = 0.882, p < 0.001). However, no mediation was found (B = 0.01, SE = 0.05, 95% CI[-0.07,0.12]). Additionally, identifying as a non-binary gender appeared to serve as a protective factor. Future replications using a more representative sample, with a better gender distribution, may be needed to clarify the role of diagnosis disclosure.