Is autism stigma higher in South Korea than the United States? Examining cultural tightness, intergroup bias, and concerns about heredity as contributors to heightened autism stigma.
Autism stigma runs higher in tight, rule-heavy cultures, but brief education can loosen it.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Kim et al. (2022) ran online surveys in South Korea and the United States.
They asked adults how close they would stay to an autistic person at work, in class, or in their family.
The team also measured cultural tightness, worry about autism running in families, and general bias.
What they found
Korean adults wanted more social distance than US adults.
Tight culture rules and fear of heredity explained most of the extra stigma.
In other words, where rules are strict and difference is shameful, rejection grows.
How this fits with other research
Araujo et al. (2024) show the flip side: a short online class cut stigma among Brazilian students.
Their study proves stigma can drop when people learn facts and meet stories.
Whiteside et al. (2022) and Lilley et al. (2020) add nuance.
In Kenya and Aboriginal Australia, stigma mixes with strong acceptance, depending on local beliefs.
So high stigma is not fate; culture shapes it, and education can loosen it.
Why it matters
If you serve Korean, Chinese, or other tight-culture families, expect deeper shame and secrecy.
Add short neurodiversity lessons for relatives, use success stories, and frame autism as brain style, not family flaw.
These steps lower distance the same way Rocha’s class did, helping clients stay in services and build community ties.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Open your next caregiver meeting with a two-minute story of an autistic adult thriving at work, then ask how they see autism in their family.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Misunderstandings about autism may be more common in South Korea than the United States. Koreans often have clear ideas about how people should act. Another way of saying this is that Korea has a tight culture. Americans are looser, meaning people are freer to act as they like. Autistic people often do not act as people expect them to. This makes autistic people stand out. Autistic people may stand out more in tight cultures like South Korea. We studied how people in South Korea and the United States feel about autism. We wanted to see why Korean people might reject autistic people more than people in the United States do. American and Korean people did online surveys. Koreans said they did not want to get close to autistic people more than Americans did. People who understood autism and had met and liked autistic people wanted to get closer to autistic people. We were surprised to learn that Americans said having an autistic brother or sister makes it harder to find a romantic partner more than Korean people did. People who believed that autism makes it harder for family members to find love did not want to get very close to autistic people. Koreans said people should act as expected more than Americans did. People who believed that acting as expected was important did not want to get very close to autistic people. Teaching people that there are many ways of being a good person may help them understand and appreciate autistic people.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2022 · doi:10.1177/13623613211029520