Spontaneous helping behavior of autistic and non‐autistic (Pre‐)adolescents: A matter of motivation?

Abstract

Young autistic people have a range of social difficulties, but it is not yet clear how these difficulties can be explained. In addition, emerging research is suggesting that autistic girls may differ from boys in terms of their social behaviors, but yet unknown is if they differ in terms of their pro‐social behavior, such as helping. The present study investigated spontaneous helping behavior using an in vivo paradigm and related this to participants' levels of social motivation (based on parent reports). Participants were 233 autistic and non‐autistic (pre‐)adolescents (M = 12.46 years, SD = 15.54 months). Our results demonstrated that autistic girls and boys have lower levels of social motivation compared to their non‐autistic peers, but social motivation was unrelated to helping behavior in both groups. Furthermore, when the experimenter needed help, the autistic boys and girls looked and smiled to the same extent as their peers of the same gender, but they actually helped significantly less than their non‐autistic peers. However, most autistic youngsters did help, highlighting the great individual differences in autistic individuals. We discuss the possibility that lower levels of helping behavior are due to difficulty initiating action in a social context, rather than lower social motivation. Autism Res 2019, 12: 1796–1804. © 2019 The Authors. Autism Research published by International Society for Autism Research published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Lay Summary This study examined the helping behavior of autistic boys and girls (aged 9–16). Many autistic young people did help, but compared to non‐autistic individuals, autistic people did not help as much. This study also showed that when people did/did not help, it was not related to their interest in social relationships. It is important to teach young autistic people when and how to help others, to support them making friends.

Research Review: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of sex/gender differences in social interaction and communication in autistic and nonautistic children and adolescents

“…Measurements across 10 studies corresponded to the DSM‐5 subdomain of developing, maintaining and understanding relationships (Baron‐Cohen & Wheelwright, 2003; Dean et al, 2014, 2016; Harrop et al, 2017; Head et al, 2014; Horiuchi et al, 2014; Knickmeyer et al, 2007; Sedgewick et al, 2016, 2018, 2019), four to nonverbal communicative behaviour (Chawarska et al, 2016; Harrop et al, 2018; O’Connor, Stockmann, & Rieffe, 2019; Parish‐Morris et al, 2017) and two to social‐emotional reciprocity (Cheng, Kato, & Tseng, 2017; van Ommeren et al, 2017).…”

“…[Correction made on 13 November 2020, after first online publication: There was an alignment error in Dean et al, 2014Dean et al, , 2016Harrop et al, 2017;Head et al, 2014;Horiuchi et al, 2014;Knickmeyer et al, 2007;Sedgewick et al, 2016Sedgewick et al, , 2018Sedgewick et al, , 2019, four to nonverbal communicative behaviour (Chawarska et al, 2016;Harrop et al, 2018;O'Connor, Stockmann, & Rieffe, 2019;Parish-Morris et al, 2017) and two to social-emotional reciprocity (Cheng, Kato, & Tseng, 2017;van Ommeren et al, 2017).…”

Friendship quality among autistic and non-autistic (pre-) adolescents: Protective or risk factor for mental health?

“…The participants of this study were recruited as part of a larger on-going research project on social-emotional development in autistic young people, as well as young people with hearing loss or developmental language disorder (DLD), some results of which have been published elsewhere (e.g. Broekhof et al, 2018 ; O’Connor et al, 2019 ). A total of 306 children and adolescents between the ages of 9 and 16 years ( M = 11.69 years; SD = 1.33 years) participated in the present study (see Table 1 ).…”

“…(Pre-) adolescent friendship requires increased adherence to social expectations, such as inherently understanding another’s wishes and intentions, negotiating personal boundaries and initiation of pro-social actions, many of which are challenging for autistic teens ( Bottema-Beutel et al, 2019 ; O’Connor et al, 2019 ). In addition, non-autistic people often misunderstand autistic people, leading to negative perceptions of autistic people, perhaps contributing to their social exclusion ( Davis & Crompton, 2021 ; Mitchell et al., 2021 ).…”

PROAUTIS (Program Deteksi dan Pencegahan Anak Autis) dan Penggunaan Whole Banana Bebas Gluten untuk anak Autis

“…Perubahan pada anakanak yang lebih muda didorong oleh perbaikan gejala sosial meskipun ada kemunduran dalam perilaku terbatas dan berulang. Temuan ini mengungkapkan bahwa deteksi dini autisme sebelum usia 2,5 tahun dikaitkan dengan peningkatan yang cukup besar dalam gejala social (Bottema-Beutel et al, 2019;O'Connor et al, 2019O'Connor et al, , 2022.…”