'I'm really glad this is developmental': autism and social comparisons - an interpretative phenomenological analysis.
Autistic teens feel they’re beating their past selves and peers—tap that energy for skill building before adaptive gaps widen.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team talked with 12 autistic teens and young adults. They asked open questions about how the youth see themselves now versus in the past.
The chats were recorded and studied with IPA. IPA lets small details of personal meaning shine through.
What they found
Every youth said, "I’m better now." They rated today’s self above yesterday’s self.
They also felt ahead of other autistic peers and of peers with different disabilities. The upward comparison lifted mood instead of hurting it.
How this fits with other research
Deserno et al. (2017) looks like the opposite story. That paper shows bright autistic adults lag far behind their IQ in daily living skills. The gap widens as they age.
The two studies do not truly clash. Schaaf et al. (2015) captures teen optimism, while Deserno et al. (2017) records adult reality. Hope comes before the hard numbers catch up.
Pathak et al. (2019) adds a third piece. Their big registry finds higher-IQ and older kids show the largest IQ-adaptive gaps. Again, the teens in C et al. have not yet felt that slide.
Why it matters
You can ride the wave of positive self-talk while it lasts. Use their "I’m better now" stories to set goals in social and daily-living domains. Pair praise with clear skill steps so the good feeling turns into real gains before the adaptive gap shows up.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The present qualitative study comprised interviews with nine young people with autism (aged 16-21 years) about their perceptions of autism. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, three underlying themes were illuminated, and all these formed the superordinate theme Making Comparisons: (a) Changes over time: 'I'm really glad this is developmental'; (b) Degrees of autism: 'They've got it really bad'; and (c) Degrees of ability: 'I'm not really disabled-disabled'. Such comparisons were not explicitly sought at the outset of the study, and instead emerged from their conceptualisations of the autism concept. When comparing how they perceived themselves now, and how they perceived themselves in the past, the young people viewed themselves more positively in the present. In addition, when making comparisons with other people with autism, they tended to locate themselves as being in a better position than others were. The perspective of being in a more fortunate position because of heightened abilities also emerged from the comparisons made with people who did not have autism. Furthermore, similar comparisons were made when autism was compared to disability, with autism being evaluated as being more favourable than what was termed 'proper' disability. The results of this study are discussed in relation to the existent social comparison literature.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2015 · doi:10.1177/1362361313512426