Lo Gloria Hei Man, Dale Clemie, Happé Francesca, Stewart Gavin R
Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Autism Res. 2025 Jun;18(6):1234-1244. doi: 10.1002/aur.70036. Epub 2025 Apr 4.
Social isolation has detrimental effects on wellbeing. While isolation can occur at any age, its prevalence has been found to increase in older adulthood. Populations with social functioning differences, such as autistic people, have also been found to be at particular risk of isolation across the lifespan, including in older age. Despite the widespread impacts of isolation, little is known about the underlying factors that may contribute to social isolation in autistic people and the general populations. While social isolation has been linked to autistic traits and theory of mind (ToM), no study has yet considered their inter-relationship. Taking a dimensional approach to autistic traits, this study examined the association between autistic traits (assessed by the AQ-10), ToM (CarToM and Frith-Happé Triangles) and social isolation (Lubben Social Connectedness Scale) among 111 adults (n = 53 autistic, 58 non-autistic), aged 40-86 years. The study also assessed the putative mediating role of ToM in the association between autistic traits and isolation. Pearson correlational analyses showed middle-aged and older adults with higher social connectedness reported fewer autistic traits and showed better performance in ToM tasks, even when accounting for the effect of age and mental health symptoms. Mediation analyses suggested the association between autistic traits and social isolation was partially mediated by ToM when age and mental health symptoms were accounted for. These findings suggest one possible mechanism for the experience of social isolation. Additionally, the findings highlight that autistic people and people with high autistic traits may be particularly susceptible to social isolation in midlife and older age, and may benefit from additional support and possible interventions to maintain desired levels of social connectedness in later life.
社会隔离对幸福感有不利影响。虽然隔离可能发生在任何年龄，但研究发现其在老年人中更为普遍。具有社会功能差异的人群，如自闭症患者，在其整个生命周期，包括老年时期，也被发现特别容易出现隔离情况。尽管隔离的影响广泛，但对于可能导致自闭症患者和普通人群社会隔离的潜在因素知之甚少。虽然社会隔离与自闭症特征和心理理论（ToM）有关，但尚未有研究考虑它们之间的相互关系。本研究采用维度方法研究自闭症特征，考察了111名年龄在40至86岁的成年人（n = 53名自闭症患者，58名非自闭症患者）的自闭症特征（通过AQ - 10评估）、心理理论（CarToM和Frith - Happé三角测试）与社会隔离（Lubben社会联系量表）之间的关联。该研究还评估了心理理论在自闭症特征与隔离之间关联中的假定中介作用。皮尔逊相关分析表明，社会联系较强的中年和老年人报告的自闭症特征较少，并且在心理理论任务中表现更好，即使考虑到年龄和心理健康症状的影响。中介分析表明，在考虑年龄和心理健康症状的情况下，自闭症特征与社会隔离之间的关联部分由心理理论介导。这些发现揭示了社会隔离体验的一种可能机制。此外，研究结果凸显出自闭症患者和具有高自闭症特征的人在中年和老年时可能特别容易受到社会隔离的影响，并且可能受益于额外的支持和可能的干预措施，以在晚年维持理想的社会联系水平。
