The impact of coping behaviors on perceived competence and social anxiety in the everyday social engagement of autistic adolescents.
Better coping lowers social anxiety in autistic teens, but they still doubt their social skills.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Chen et al. (2024) tracked autistic teens in real life. They asked how coping shapes social anxiety and how capable the teens felt.
Phones pinged the kids several times a day. Each ping asked what they were doing, how anxious they felt, and what coping they used.
What they found
Poor coping went with more anxiety around adults and during free time with peers.
The twist: teens who used better coping still rated their own social skills low. Less anxiety, but still little confidence.
How this fits with other research
Levin et al. (2014) already showed that autistic teens who shut down instead of coping have more mood problems. Ryan’s team adds that poor coping also spikes moment-to-moment social anxiety.
Han et al. (2022) reviewed dozens of papers and found most autistic people hide traits to dodge stigma. Ryan’s data now show that even active coping can leave teens feeling socially inept, matching that review’s warning that stigma can linger despite coping.
Lim et al. (2021) found caregiver stigma shrinks teens’ social circles and raises anxiety at home. Ryan’s study moves the lens from parent views to the teen’s own minute-by-minute feelings, showing the same anxiety pattern but linking it to coping style.
Why it matters
Teaching coping skills can calm the body, yet it may not rebuild self-image. Pair coping training with explicit feedback on real social wins. Point out when the teen keeps a chat going, shares a laugh, or asks a good question. This can chip away at the ‘I’m bad at this’ story while the new coping keeps anxiety low.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Individuals who cope well with challenges may engage in social situations more successfully. We examined how well autistic adolescents coped, depending on how competent they felt and how much anxiety they experienced during social activities. We included 133 individuals (82 autistic, 51 neurotypical) between the ages of 10 and 16 years. Participants carried a mobile device that prompted them seven times a day for 7 days to record what they were doing, how competent they felt and how much anxiety they experienced. We used the Coping Inventory to understand how well participants coped with environmental challenges and met their needs for growth. Autistic adolescents were more likely than neurotypical peers to feel anxious while doing activities with adults. Autistic adolescents who had more difficulty coping with challenges were more likely to feel anxious when doing leisure activities with peers. Interestingly, autistic adolescents who coped better with challenges tended to feel less competent in social situations. However, those better able to meet their needs for growth tended to perceive their social competence positively. These findings can help practitioners develop strategies and programs to reduce the negative social experiences of autistic adolescents by helping them cope better.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2024 · doi:10.1177/13623613231196773