Social competence with an unfamiliar peer in children and adolescents with high functioning autism: Measurement and individual differences
TL;DR: The curvilinear association between social anxiety and reciprocity highlights the importance of examining nonlinear relations in individuals with HFA, and emphasizes that discrete profiles of social anxiety in individualswith HFA may necessitate different treatment options.
About: This article is published in Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders.The article was published on 2015-09-01 and is currently open access. It has received 39 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Social competence & Social anxiety.
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TL;DR: The authors conducted a systematic review to summarise English-language research about relationships between core ASD symptoms and social anxiety in individuals with ASD and found that social anxiety was associated with poorer social skills and functioning, and reduced social motivation.
136 citations
Cites background or result from "Social competence with an unfamilia..."
...Two studies (Meyer et al., 2006; Usher et al., 2015) found that relative to a NCC group, participants with ASD or Asperger syndrome appeared less socially competent, and were significantly less likely to initiate social overtures, pro-social behaviour, or display reciprocity....
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...…informant-ratings of SA included goal-directed behaviour for negative emotions, impaired awareness of emotions, and social motivation (all β > 0.24, all p < 0.05) Usher et al. (2015), USA Investigation into interactions between people with and without ASD, and relationships between social…...
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...Four studies (Chang et al., 2012; Meyer et al., 2006; Usher et al., 2015; White & Roberson-Nay, 2009) examined associations between SA and social competence or functioning in children and adolescents....
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TL;DR: Results suggest that the IPTS provides a useful framework for understanding the influence of autistic traits on suicidal behavior, however, the psychometric properties of these measures need be explored in those with clinically confirmed diagnosis of ASC.
Abstract: Autism spectrum conditions (ASC) has recently been associated with increased risk of suicidality. However, no studies have explored how autistic traits may interact with current models of suicidal behavior in a non-clinical population. The current study therefore explored how self-reported autistic traits interact with perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness in predicting suicidal behavior, in the context of the Interpersonal-Psychological Theory of Suicide (IPTS). 163 young adults (aged 18–30 years) completed an online survey including measures of thwarted belonging and perceived burdensomeness (Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire), self-reported autistic traits (Autism Spectrum Quotient), current depression (Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale), and lifetime suicidality (Suicide Behavior Questionnaire-Revised). Results showed that burdensomeness and thwarted belonging significantly mediated the relationship between autistic traits and suicidal behavior. Both depression and autistic traits significantly predicted thwarted belonging and perceived burdensomeness. Autistic traits did not significantly moderate the relationship between suicidal behavior and thwarted belonging or perceived burdensomeness. Results suggest that the IPTS provides a useful framework for understanding the influence of autistic traits on suicidal behavior. However, the psychometric properties of these measures need be explored in those with clinically confirmed diagnosis of ASC. Autism Res 2017, 10: 1891–1904. © 2017 The Authors Autism Research published by International Society for Autism Research and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Lay Summary
Recent research has shown that people with high autistic traits are more likely to attempt suicide. However, no studies have explored why. We found that people with high autistic traits were more likely to experience feelings that they do not belong in the world, are a burden on others, and depression, which may increase their likelihood of attempting suicide. These results suggest that promoting inclusion and independence in those with high autistic traits could help prevent people attempting suicide.
79 citations
TL;DR: The results suggest that social affiliation may increase for autistic adults when partnered with other autistic people, and support reframing social interaction difficulties in autism as a relational rather than an individual impairment.
Abstract: Differences in social communication and interaction styles between autistic and typically developing have been studied in isolation and not in the context of real-world social interaction. The curr...
72 citations
Cites background from "Social competence with an unfamilia..."
...Several recent studies have begun to examine real-time interactions between autistic and TD individuals (Stevanovic et al., 2017; Usher et al., 2015, 2018), and in some respects, interactions between the two dyad types (i.e. ASD–TD and TD–TD) seem similar....
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TL;DR: Compared impairment scores, similarities and differences in how social deficits in ASD may worsen with anxiety or ADHD symptoms are suggested.
Abstract: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience internalizing and externalizing problems at higher rates than typically developing children, which could worsen social impairment. The present study compared impairment scores (social responsiveness scale, 2nd edition; SRS-2 scores) in 57 children (3-17 years, 82.5% male) with ASD, either with or without heightened levels of anxiety or ADHD symptoms, all per parent report. Children with heightened anxiety problems showed higher scores on four SRS-2 subscales (Social Cognition, Social Communication, Social Motivation, and Restricted Interests and Repetitive Behavior). Children with heightened ADHD traits showed higher scores on two subscales (Social Communication and Social Awareness). These findings suggest similarities and differences in how social deficits in ASD may worsen with anxiety or ADHD symptoms.
59 citations
TL;DR: It is found that students with PIU show higher levels of autistic traits compared to those without PIU, and a significant correlation was found between autistic traits and suicide risk.
Abstract: Background: Over the past decades, problematic internet use (PIU) has dramatically increased, especially among young people. PIU has been recently associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and autistic traits. Subjects with PIU report an increased suicidal risk and the same has been demonstrated among patients with ASD. The aim of this study was to investigate putative PIU rates among students and explore the correlation between autistic traits and suicide risk. Methods: A sample of 178 high achieving university students was assessed by means of the Adult Autism Subthreshold Spectrum (AdAS Spectrum), Autism Quotient questionnaire (AQ). Suicide risk was investigated by some specific items of the Trauma and Loss Spectrum-Self Report (TALS-SR) and putative PIU was identified on the basis of a specific AdAS Spectrum item. Results: 27.5% subjects reporting putative PIU. This subgroup showed higher scores in all domains of AdAS Spectrum and AQ compared with others. Students with putative PIU showed a significant correlation between suicide risk and the non-verbal communication domain of the AdAS Spectrum and the Social skills domain of the AQ. Conclusions: We found that students with PIU show higher levels of autistic traits compared to those without PIU. A significant correlation was found between autistic traits and suicide risk.
31 citations
Cites background from "Social competence with an unfamilia..."
...Impairment in communication skills or the reduced reciprocity associated with ASD could lead to social isolation and self-reported loneliness [14,52,53]....
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References
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TL;DR: The revised interview has been reorganized, shortened, modified to be appropriate for children with mental ages from about 18 months into adulthood and linked to ICD-10 and DSM-IV criteria.
Abstract: Describes the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R), a revision of the Autism Diagnostic Interview, a semistructured, investigator-based interview for caregivers of children and adults for whom autism or pervasive developmental disorders is a possible diagnosis. The revised interview has been reorganized, shortened, modified to be appropriate for children with mental ages from about 18 months into adulthood and linked to ICD-10 and DSM-IV criteria. Psychometric data are presented for a sample of preschool children.
8,264 citations
TL;DR: Principal component analysis (PCA) as discussed by the authors is a multivariate technique that analyzes a data table in which observations are described by several inter-correlated quantitative dependent variables, and its goal is to extract the important information from the table, to represent it as a set of new orthogonal variables called principal components, and display the pattern of similarity of the observations and of the variables as points in maps.
Abstract: Principal component analysis PCA is a multivariate technique that analyzes a data table in which observations are described by several inter-correlated quantitative dependent variables. Its goal is to extract the important information from the table, to represent it as a set of new orthogonal variables called principal components, and to display the pattern of similarity of the observations and of the variables as points in maps. The quality of the PCA model can be evaluated using cross-validation techniques such as the bootstrap and the jackknife. PCA can be generalized as correspondence analysis CA in order to handle qualitative variables and as multiple factor analysis MFA in order to handle heterogeneous sets of variables. Mathematically, PCA depends upon the eigen-decomposition of positive semi-definite matrices and upon the singular value decomposition SVD of rectangular matrices. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
6,398 citations
TL;DR: The Revised Eyes Test has improved power to detect subtle individual differences in social sensitivity and was inversely correlated with the Autism Spectrum Quotient (the AQ), a measure of autistic traits in adults of normal intelligence.
Abstract: In 1997 in this Journal we published the ‘‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes’’ Test, as a measure of adult ‘‘mentalising’’. Whilst that test succeeded in discriminating a group of adults with Asperger syndrome (AS) or high-functioning autism (HFA) from controls, it suered from several psychometric problems. In this paper these limitations are rectified by revising the test. The Revised Eyes Test was administered to a group of adults with AS or HFA (N fl 15) and again discriminated these from a large number of normal controls (N fl 239) drawn from dierent samples. In both the clinical and control groups the Eyes Test was inversely correlated with the Autism Spectrum Quotient (the AQ), a measure of autistic traits in adults of normal intelligence. The Revised Eyes Test has improved power to detect subtle individual dierences in social sensitivity.
4,858 citations
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: This paper provides an overview of methodological issues related to the assessment of IRR with a focus on study design, selection of appropriate statistics, and the computation, interpretation, and reporting of some commonly-used IRR statistics.
Abstract: Many research designs require the assessment of inter-rater reliability (IRR) to demonstrate consistency among observational ratings provided by multiple coders. However, many studies use incorrect statistical procedures, fail to fully report the information necessary to interpret their results, or do not address how IRR affects the power of their subsequent analyses for hypothesis testing. This paper provides an overview of methodological issues related to the assessment of IRR with a focus on study design, selection of appropriate statistics, and the computation, interpretation, and reporting of some commonly-used IRR statistics. Computational examples include SPSS and R syntax for computing Cohen’s kappa and intra-class correlations to assess IRR.
3,046 citations