An Examination of Social Skills, Friendship Quality, and Loneliness for Adults with Williams Syndrome.

The team asked adults with Williams Syndrome about their social skills, friendships, and loneliness.

They used surveys to see if good friendships could soften the link between weak skills and feeling alone.

Adults with WS do show social skill gaps, yet most say their friends are close and they rarely feel lonely.

Friendship quality acts like a cushion: it partly blocks the path from poor skills to loneliness.

Ng et al. (2014) first showed that people with WS crave warm, affectionate ties. Giesbers et al. (2020) now prove those ties guard against loneliness.

Bauminger et al. (2003) found that high-functioning students with autism feel lonely even when they start chats. The WS adults here feel the opposite—good friends keep loneliness low. This looks like a contradiction, but the groups differ: the autism study measured kids at school, while the WS study asked adults about real friendships.

Udwin et al. (1998) warned that WS adults get little professional support. Giesbers et al. (2020) add a low-cost fix: strengthen natural friendships and you may ease loneliness without extra services.

You can stop waiting for perfect social skills. Start friendship-building groups, peer mentors, or shared-interest clubs. A close friend, not a flawless greeting, is what shields your WS client from loneliness.