Pellicano Elizabeth, Heyworth Melanie
Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK.
Macquarie School of Education, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Commun Psychol. 2025 Mar 6;3(1):36. doi: 10.1038/s44271-025-00208-7.
A diverse portfolio of social relationships matters for people's wellbeing, including both strong, secure relationships with others ('close ties') and casual interactions with acquaintances and strangers ('weak ties'). Almost all of autism research has focused on Autistic people's close ties with friends, family and intimate partners, resulting in a radically constrained understanding of Autistic sociality. Here, we sought to understand the potential power of weak-tie interactions by drawing on 95 semi-structured interviews with Autistic young people and adults conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. We analysed the qualitative data using reflexive thematic analysis within an essentialist framework. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, Autistic people deeply missed not only their close personal relationships but also their "incidental social contact" with acquaintances and strangers. These weak-tie interactions appear to serve similar functions for Autistic people as they do for non-autistic people, including promoting wellbeing. These findings have important implications both for future research into Autistic sociality and for the design of practical services and supports to enhance Autistic people's opportunities to flourish.
多样化的社会关系组合对人们的幸福至关重要，这包括与他人建立的牢固、可靠的关系（“紧密关系”）以及与熟人、陌生人的偶然互动（“弱关系”）。几乎所有关于自闭症的研究都聚焦于自闭症患者与朋友、家人及亲密伴侣的紧密关系，这导致对自闭症社交性的理解受到极大限制。在此，我们通过对95名自闭症青少年和成年人在新冠疫情期间进行的半结构化访谈，试图了解弱关系互动的潜在力量。我们在本质主义框架内运用反思性主题分析法对定性数据进行了分析。在新冠疫情封锁期间，自闭症患者不仅深切怀念他们亲密的人际关系，还怀念与熟人、陌生人的“偶然社交接触”。这些弱关系互动对自闭症患者似乎起到了与非自闭症患者类似的作用，包括促进幸福感。这些发现对未来自闭症社交性的研究以及设计切实可行的服务与支持措施以增加自闭症患者蓬勃发展的机会都具有重要意义。
