The effect of autistic traits on prosocial behavior: The chain mediating role of received social support and perceived social support

Zhang, S., Li, H., Li, H., & Zhao, S. (2024). The effect of autistic traits on prosocial behavior: The chain mediating role of received social support and perceived social support. Autism, 28(3), 600-615.

Abstract

There is growing evidence that the defining characteristics of autism spectrum disorder are distributed across the general population; therefore, understanding the correlates of prosocial behavior in individuals with high levels of autistic traits could shed light on autism spectrum disorder and prosocial behavior. In this study, the mechanism underlying the influence of individuals’ autistic traits on their prosocial behavior was explored by conducting a questionnaire survey of 414 Chinese college students. The results showed that autistic traits can influence individuals’ prosocial behavior not only through the separate effects of received social support and perceived social support but also through the chain mediating effects of received social support and perceived social support; however, the direct effect of autistic traits on individuals’ prosocial behavior is not significant. This study is conducive to understanding the internal mechanism underlying the relationship between autistic traits and prosocial behavior. Future work is required to further investigate the clinical autism spectrum disorder samples and cross-cultural applicability of the model found in this study.

越来越多的证据表明，孤独症谱系障碍人群的特质在一般人群亦有分布，因此，了解高功能孤独症人群特质与亲社会行为间的关系，有助于明晰孤独症与亲社会行为。本研究通过对414名中国大学生进行问卷调查，探讨了个体的孤独症特征对其亲社会行为的影响机制。结果表明，孤独症特征影响个体亲社会行为的途径，不仅是接受性社会支持和领悟性社会支持的单独效应，并且还有二者间的链式中介效应。然而，孤独症特质对个体亲社会行为的直接影响并不显著。本研究有助于理解孤独症特质与亲社会行为之间关系的内在机制。未来的工作需要进一步研究孤独症临床样本和本模型的跨文化应用。