Study showslink between autistic traits and sex / employment (specifically those employed in STEM related areas)

Interesting to see it confirmed on a larger scale.

I wonder what percentage of STW members work in science, technology, engineering or mathematics.

Does the article draw any conclusions re: posting on the wrong forum?

Yes, it says the forum should be set to default to ‘Chat’ as no one is likely to be talking about bikes here 😳

Assumed it would be…

And the use of the word “sex” was also disappointing.

🙁

It’s a bike forum?

I thought the singletrack part was a reference to the mind…

Male STEM worker here, did the test
“higher than average” no surprises,
“below the threshold” phew!

Male STEM worker, below average on the test, probably means I’m not very good at my job 🙂

Male STEM worker here

There’s a running joke here that we’re (a big multinational enginering company) not so much ‘on the spectrum’ as ‘the whole f****** rainbow’.

“below the threshold” phew!

Phew?

Upon reflection it was a stupid thing to say, apologies.
After the first dozen or so Qs I reckoned I was going to end up with a fairly high “score”.

Well it recommended I speak to my GP. But then I’m not surprised.

Male, Civil Engineer here.

Above average but below the threshold as well.

Gonna try a few of the other tests as well now………

+1 – I was assuming an inverse relationship

16.4. Does that make me a crap engineer?

Did the test, got the same above average, below threshold result. What I found more interesting though is that I had a good idea where I was going to be before getting the result, because there are some aspects I clearly score highly on (anxiety in social situations mainly), but others where I’m fairly “normal”. I’d be kind of interested to see the results breakdown within the test – ie which parts scored highly for STEM professionals (I think I’ve also just scored another point there 😳 )

Now off to do the anxiety and depression tests to find out more things I already know…

Edit: another point for feeling the need to edit an insignificant mistake in my post

There’s a running joke here that we’re (a big multinational enginering company) not so much ‘on the spectrum’ as ‘the whole f****** rainbow’.

Somewhat worryingly I have also made that same remark.

Above average but below the threshold as well.

I reckon that’s going top be the most common result here. Comforting, isn’t it?

Sure I’ve done this or similar test before. It’s all over the place, on the shape curve I’ve seen – much like aracer above. Male STEM also. Son would be a higher AQ I suspect and i’d have some thoughts about my dad if were still around. Hm.

Mind you my score must be minuscule compared to some of the folk I worked with, similar to TINAS, we’d have blown the quota for the country if we’d all been tested at the same time..

Above average and above threshold.

the proper test gives me a result of 43, which isn’t a surprise as I have Aspergers.

I’m male, work as a technical manager for a contaminated land remediation company and have gone through a few uni’s.

I quite like doing these tests every now and then as I function fairly well most of the time, but when I don’t, I don’t and the impact on my family can be severe. (I would say friends too, but I’ve not got many left) These numbers reassure me that it’s not all in my head, even though it is, but I’m sure you understand what I mean. more I’m not making it up and need to MTFU.

Still undecided if it’s really Aspie or sociopathy, depends on boredom. 😉

I got above the threshold, similar to another test I did a while ago. STEM worker and feel that I am a lot closer to the threshold than some of my colleagues are. Again recommended to speak to my GP, but the irony being that as a part of my “issues” I am particularly poor at doing that kind of thing. It would be a very long awkward silence rather than a chat!

Again recommended to speak to my GP, but the irony being that as a part of my “issues” I am particularly poor at doing that kind of thing. It would be a very long awkward silence rather than a chat!

practice, this is what I have to do with most of my conversations. Find your points you wish to make and construct the storyline before you go. Have an objective in mind too otherwise you’ll not be armed when he asks questions back.

When I was younger I used to just sit and wait for them to ask very specific questions, as general questions would only get general answers. As I’ve got older I’ve managed to bluff my way socially so much that conversations that have too long gaps are filled by me waffling.

neither are good.

Medical professionals tend to be wary of giving an ASD diagnosis in adults so be clear what you’re expecting to get from a trip to the GP or a referral.

You’re pretty much ‘how you’re going to be’ by the time you reach adulthood and have as many coping etc mechanisms as you’re going to develop in place so you’re not going to change your behaviour by being giving a label for how you are and most people won’t change how they behave towards you unless you always wear a t-shirt with the information on it.

(above average and above threshold in my case fwiw).

WooHoo a score of 32 which puts me quite high. What do I win?

To be slightly more serious given that I’ve reached middle age and have held gainful employment since graduating university I doubt that even a proper diagnosis would make any real world difference to me.

They didn’t mention in the article the lack of women in STEM careers, not clear if they took that into account. I’m sure they did but the way the article read was “men have a higher score than women and stem jobs are higher than other jobs” well yeah, they will be when it’s predominantly men who do them.

I’m amazed they needed a survey to figure that out, bloody obvious if you work in Engineering. We have SW Engineers at work who can’t look at other people and can only hold conversations whilst staring at the floor. Not that they’d ever start a conversation, they’d go for years never speaking if no one spoke to them…

Medical professionals tend to be wary of giving an ASD diagnosis in adults so be clear what you’re expecting to get from a trip to the GP or a referral.

In my experience it’s very very difficult for assessors to pry out the right information from ASD adults who are reasonably functioning. In my case I’ve been ‘socially aware’ for 30 years so have a lot of experience and development of coping behind me. For my diagnosed aspie daughter however, she’s only been socially aware for about 5 years and so has a lot to deal with on a day by day basis, though you can see the progression occurring.

I’m taking social awareness to happen around age 10, whereby you start to gain an awareness of where you sit in the social context, one of many reasons why all teenagers, non ASD included have such a hard time ‘finding themselves’ it takes a few years to figure yourself out.

Seems my Fri new at right. I am on the spectrum, if that’s what above the threshold means.

I’m fairly sure that factor has been taken into account, and that men doing STEM jobs have a higher score on average than men doing other jobs – I don’t think anybody is terribly shocked by the revelation that people doing STEM jobs have higher scores than people (of the same sex) in other careers.

Though it would also be appalling bad research not to take that into account.

STEM, male, above threshold on that test. Never been diagnosed, no interest in being so, I know what I am like.

But mainly, what wookie said.

I’m averagely autistic, mildly anxious and slightly depressed.

The anxiety and depression tests are the standard ones used at our CBT course

I’m amazed they needed a survey to figure that out, bloody obvious if you work in Engineering.

Quite. It’s the geek gene, I’ve said this for years.

34 – oops