The effect of autistic traits on prosocial behavior: The chain mediating role of received social support and perceived social support.
Social support, not autistic traits, drives college students’ kind acts.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Zhang et al. (2024) asked 414 Chinese college students to fill out four surveys. The surveys measured autistic traits, received social support, perceived social support, and prosocial behavior.
The team used a chain-mediator model. They tested whether social support explains why students with more autistic traits do fewer kind acts for others.
What they found
Higher autistic traits did not directly lower prosocial behavior. Instead, the traits reduced the amount of help students actually got from others. Less real help then lowered how supported students felt. That drop in perceived support finally led to fewer kind acts.
Only the indirect path mattered. The direct link from traits to prosocial acts was not significant.
How this fits with other research
Lu et al. (2022) used the same chain-mediator design in Chinese college students. They also found that autistic traits spark a chain reaction, but their outcome was excessive smartphone use, not prosocial behavior. Both studies show that traits start a social-psychological chain that leads to real-world changes.
Sticinski et al. (2022) and Heald et al. (2020) looked at parents of autistic children. These parents reported low perceived social support. Shuhua et al. flip the lens: they show that among neurotypical students, low support is the bridge between traits and behavior. Together, the papers suggest that boosting support may help both caregivers and students.
Bauminger et al. (2003) found that autistic children feel lonely even when they try to approach peers. Shuhua et al. extend this idea to college students: the problem is not the traits alone, but the social support that never arrives or is not noticed.
Why it matters
You can not change a student’s traits, but you can change their social environment. Start by mapping each student’s real and perceived support. Then teach peers to offer concrete help like notes, lunch invites, or study reminders. When students feel supported, kind behaviors follow.
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02At a glance
03Original 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.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2024 · doi:10.1177/13623613231177776