Brief Report: Insistence on Sameness, Anxiety, and Social Motivation in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The team asked 44 kids with autism to fill out three short checklists. One measured anxiety, one measured social motivation, and one measured insistence on sameness.

They used a simple math model to see if low social motivation helps explain why anxious kids cling to routines.

Kids who felt more anxious also insisted on sameness more often. The link was only strong when the child also scored low on social motivation.

In plain words, anxiety plus "I don’t care about people" equals stricter rituals.

Chen et al. (2016) watched adults with autism in real life. Social moments lifted their joy but also spiked their anxiety. Together the studies show anxiety is part of social life for many with ASD, not just a side issue.

Bellon-Harn et al. (2020) found that kids who hate change are bullied more. Nijs et al. (2016) adds a reason: those kids may also avoid peers, so they never learn the social rules that could protect them.

Kose et al. (2025) showed that empathy and systemizing drive social skills in teens. The new study flips the lens: low social drive in younger kids can feed anxiety and rigid behavior, not just poor skills.

When a child’s rituals grow, check two places: anxiety level and social motivation. Calming skills alone may not be enough. Add quick, low-pressure social games the child actually wants. Less anxiety plus a reason to join peers can loosen rigidity faster than either part alone.