I feel like most of the discussion on this topic is anecdotes, spiced up by cultural stereotypes.
I'm originally from a European country where the stick is prevalent, and pretty much had to learn to drive it (and hated it) - while driving exam could be passed with automatic in theory, there were simply no cars available (and you couldn't supply your own).
That said, people there weren't really particularly opinionated about it one way or another. There was some mild form of sexism, along the lines of "auto is for girls", but I think it was more an extension of the general car-related sexism in that country.
I then lived in New Zealand, Canada and US for a while. All of them have autos dominate - less so in NZ, more in Canada and especially US. But no-one really makes a big deal of it. If you drive the stick, no-one will taunt you for showing off, for example, the way people do with other stuff. It's just a slightly unusual choice.
On the other hand, I noticed that many European immigrants have a decidedly snobby attitude towards auto. They don't just prefer the stick - they're like vegetarians who have to make a point of some innate superiority of their choice, and disparage the other option - not even rationally, but on the level of, "Americans are just too dumb to learn this stuff".
And I think that this, more than anything else, kinda muddies up meaningful discussion (with studies etc) on this subject. It's such a strong part of cultural identity for some, that even starting a conversation on it is inviting flame. Note how my first post in this thread is at 0, even though it was purely about sharing my personal experience as a data point, and not saying that it applies to other people.
For the most part, I think people should just choose what they feel makes most sense for them, and refrain from judging the choices of others. The differences really aren't that big or that important beyond subjective personal experience.