Tetreault Julia, Andres Erin M, Sipsock Danielle, Tokadjian Hasmik, Layton Kayla, McCormick Carolyn E B, Sheinkopf Stephen J
Brown Center for the Study of Children at Risk, Women & Infants Hospital, Providence, RI, USA.
Thompson Center for Autism & Neurodevelopment, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA.
J Autism Dev Disord. 2025 Jan 8. doi: 10.1007/s10803-024-06693-9.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by impairments in social affective engagement. The present study uses a mild social stressor task to add to inconclusive past literature concerning differences in affective expressivity between autistic young adults and non-autistic individuals from the general population (GP). Young adults (mean age = 21.5) diagnosed with ASD (n = 18) and a non-autistic comparison group (n = 17) participated in the novel social stress task. Valence (positive/negative) and intensity of facial affect were coded across four observational episodes that alternated between engagement and disengagement of social conversational partner. Results indicated an overall attenuation in expressivity in the ASD group in comparison to the non-autistic group. Mean affect differed between groups, especially in the amount of affective expression. Both groups responded with increased positive expressions during social engagement episodes. The affect difference was driven by a smaller proportion of positive and a greater proportion of neutral affect displays in the ASD group compared to the non-autistic group during these episodes, and less so by negative affect differences. The results suggest that friendly, non-threatening social interactions should not be assumed to be aversive to autistic individuals, and that these individuals may respond to such situations with muted positive valence. These findings are consistent with past reports of decreased expressivity in autistic individuals compared to individuals from the general population, specifically in an ecologically valid social context.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的特征是社交情感参与方面存在缺陷。本研究采用轻度社会应激源任务，以补充以往关于自闭症青年与普通人群（GP）中非自闭症个体在情感表达差异方面尚无定论的文献。被诊断为ASD的青年（平均年龄 = 21.5岁，n = 18）和一个非自闭症对照组（n = 17）参与了这项新颖的社会应激任务。对面部情感的效价（积极/消极）和强度在四个观察阶段进行编码，这些阶段在与社会对话伙伴的参与和脱离之间交替。结果表明，与非自闭症组相比，ASD组的表达能力总体上有所减弱。两组之间的平均情感存在差异，尤其是在情感表达的量上。在社交参与阶段，两组的积极表达都有所增加。这种情感差异是由ASD组在这些阶段中积极情感展示的比例较小和中性情感展示的比例较大驱动的，而消极情感差异的影响较小。结果表明，不应假定友好、无威胁的社会互动对自闭症个体是厌恶的，并且这些个体可能以减弱的积极效价来应对这种情况。这些发现与过去关于自闭症个体与普通人群相比表达能力下降的报告一致，特别是在生态有效的社会背景下。
