"I Know it's Good to Do it": A Qualitative Study Exploring the Perspective of Autistic Men on Social Motivation.
Autistic men care about peers but need clear, low-cost ways to connect.
01Research in Context
What this study did
van Dijk et al. (2026) interviewed autistic men about why they seek or avoid social contact.
The team asked open questions like "What makes a good chat for you?" and "When do you pull back?"
They recorded the men’s own words, then grouped answers into themes.
What they found
The men said they value friends and want connection.
They also said social rules feel unclear and tiring.
This push-pull shows motivation is not missing; it is tangled with real-life barriers.
How this fits with other research
Elias et al. (2020) built a short kid-friendly interview to score social drive. Silke’s work warns that any score may rise or fall with context, so one number can mislead.
Seers et al. (2021) heard autistic women blame gendered masks for social stress. Silke heard men blame unclear rules. Same tension, different cause, so gender shapes the story but the tension stays.
Gillespie-Smith et al. (2021) found autistic youth love online chat because it is slower and clearer. Silke’s men want the same clarity in face-to-face life, showing the need spans ages and settings.
Why it matters
Stop asking "Does this client care about people?" Start asking "What makes social effort worth it for them right now?" Use that answer to pick goals, break down hidden rules, and schedule recharge time. When you respect both the want and the worry, motivation shows up.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The social motivation hypothesis states that people with Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) have a diminished social motivation, that is (1) less priority in attention for objects of social importance, (2) diminished social reward, and (3) less desire to maintain and strengthen relationships. Little is known about the perception of autistic people on their social motivation. This study used semi-structured interviews to explore how eleven autistic men perceived their social motivation, behaviour, and interactions. In the interpretative phenomenological analysis, five themes were identified: (1) social network, (2) importance of social contact, (3) challenges regarding social contact, (4) conditionality of social contact, and (5) the struggle between importance, challenges and conditionality of social contact. Social motivation appeared to be a dynamic concept that varied between individuals and contexts. Most participants struggled between valuing social contact as important and the challenges they faced on a social level over the different contexts in which they participated. Even though elements of the social motivation hypothesis were recognized, the main finding was that this struggle seemed to be the source of the diminished social motivation that was observed in some of these men. Although more research is needed, the findings of this study could imply that social motivation might not be as straightforward for autistic men as described in the social motivation hypothesis.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2026 · doi:10.1177/16094069211061957