Exploring the Interpersonal Goals of Autistic and Neurotypical Adolescents Who Bully Others.
Autistic teens bully to gain friends, not status—so intervene with friendship skills, not discipline for dominance.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Fink et al. (2024) asked autistic and neurotypical teens why they bully.
They used a survey that measures social goals.
The team compared the two groups to see if the reasons differ.
What they found
Autistic teens who bully want to fit in and feel close to others.
Neurotypical teens who bully want power and control.
Same act, very different motives.
How this fits with other research
de Jonge et al. (2025) tracked the same kids for two years and showed that quiet, anxious autistic teens get picked on most.
That study looked at victim counts; Elian shows the social goal behind the push-back.
Bitsika et al. (2017) found that older autistic boys act out less, hinting that the "need to belong" goal may fade with age.
Together the papers paint a timeline: early anxiety, then communal-bullying, then gradual drop as teens find safer ways to connect.
Why it matters
If an autistic student bullies, ask "Who do you want to be friends with?" instead of "Why are you being mean?"
Teach peer-entry skills, shared-interest clubs, or peer-buddy systems.
Targeting the loneliness cuts the behavior better than lectures about power.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The current study examined the association between interpersonal social goals (i.e., agentic and communal goals) and bullying behaviour for autistic adolescents (n = 108, Mage = 15.25 years, SD = 1.65) and neurotypical adolescents (n = 592, Mage = 13 years, SD = 0.5). Bullying behaviour was assessed using both self- and peer-reported measures. Agentic and communal social goals were assessed using the child version of the Interpersonal Goal Index. Measurement properties of the Interpersonal Goal Index were first examined, and some features were found to differ across autistic and neurotypical adolescents. Bullying behaviour was associated with agentic goals for neurotypical adolescents whereas communal goals were associated with bullying for autistic adolescents, suggesting a mismatch between social goals and social behaviours for this group. This insight suggests that the dynamics of bullying behaviour differ between neurotypical and autistic adolescents, and highlight the need for the development of autistic-led assessment and support for bullying.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2024 · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9507.2009.00544.x