Personal Space Regulation in Williams Syndrome: The Effect of Familiarity

Abstract

. (2016) 'Personal space regulation in Williams syndrome : the e ect of familiarity.', Journal of autism and developmental disorders., 46 (10). 3207-3215. Further information on publisher's website:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2864-8Publisher's copyright statement:The nal publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2864-8Additional information: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-pro t purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. AbstractPersonal space refers to a protective barrier that we strive to maintain around our body. We examined personal space regulation in young people with Williams syndrome (WS) and their typically developing, chronological age-matched peers using a parent report questionnaire and a stop-distance paradigm. Individuals with WS were reported by their parents to be more likely to violate the personal space of others, and indeed they maintained a shorter interpersonal distance in the stop-distance paradigm. Interestingly, WS individuals failed to regulate their personal space based on the familiarity of the person they were interacting with.Findings are discussed in relation to the wider social profile associated with WS, and the possible impact of atypical personal space regulation on social vulnerability. 2Personal space regulation in Williams syndrome: The effect of familiarity When engaging in social interactions, individuals must regulate the distance that they maintain between themselves and other people (Hall, 1996). Personal space is defined as the area around a person's body, which if invaded, can cause feelings of discomfort and anxiety (Perry et al., 2013). Vignemont and Iannetti (2015) outline different types of personal space.Peripersonal space refers to the space around one's body where an object can be grasped, whereas extrapersonal space is the area around the body that is just beyond reach. Indeed, , 1997). The current study is concerned with the protective peripersonal space (herein referred to as simply 'personal space'), and its implications for social vulnerability levels in Williams syndrome.For typically developing individuals, regulating this personal space is a largely automatic process, guided by situational cues, social cues and cultural norms (Beaulieu, 2004). The ability to successfully collate these cues and maintain an appropriate interpersonal distance contributes to successful and positive social interactions (Gessaroli et al., 2013).However, it is known that some individuals with developmental disorders find social interactions challenging, and they may also...

Association of Chronic Low Back Pain With Personal Space Regulation

“…According to a previous study by Lough et al ( 25 ), the sample size that can be calculated by G * Power should have 21 participants in each group (α = 0.05, d = 0.8, and power = 80%). In the present study, 24 patients with CLBP and 24 healthy adults were recruited between December 2018 and January 2019 from the Shanghai Shangti Orthopedic Hospital and Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China.…”

“…In social interaction, people can automatically regulate interpersonal distance. With high validity and reliability, a stop-distance paradigm is frequently applied to measure the preferred interpersonal distance under various conditions ( 25 , 40 ). At the beginning of a task, a subject and the experimenter faced each other at a distance of 3 m. Four conditions were set: two of them involved completing a task with an unfamiliar person of the same gender (the experimenter was the same gender as the subject), and the two other conditions were undertaken with an unfamiliar person of the opposite gender (the experimenter was the opposite gender as the subject).…”

“…Many studies have explored the adjustment of interpersonal distance among different groups of people. Lough et al ( 25 ) investigated the differences in personal space adjustment between patients with Williams syndrome and typically developing peers. The findings suggested that patients with Williams syndrome more likely invade others' personal space and maintain a shorter interpersonal distance.…”

“Intolerance of uncertainty” mediates the relationship between social profile and anxiety in both Williams syndrome and autism

“…Both autism and WS include substantial heterogeneity across individuals, including differences in style of social motivation and in level of anxiety. On the whole, previous studies have characterized atypical social motivation in WS as an increased drive toward social engagement (Jones et al, 2000; Vivanti et al, 2016) and increased attention to people and faces (Riby & Hancock, 2008, 2009); additionally, interactions and social approach in WS are not modulated as expected by degree of the familiarity with a partner (Lough et al, 2016; Riby et al, 2014). This increased social drive occurs in parallel with mild‐to‐moderate learning difficulties (Searcy et al, 2004) and difficulties making socio‐cognitive judgments (Tager‐Flusberg & Sullivan, 2000), meaning that this constellation of issues can lead to heightened social vulnerability (Riby et al, 2017).…”

Cross-cultural communication of the Indonesian students in China

“…The point is someone needs privacy, personal space, and territoriality to get comfort for themselves. When individuals perceive their territory as their territory, it means they have the possibility to prevent any discomfort in their area [26].…”