Violations of personal space by individuals with autism spectrum disorder

The ability to maintain an appropriate physical distance (i.e., interpersonal distance) from others is a critical aspect of social interaction and contributes importantly to real-life social functioning. In Study 1, using parent-report data that had been acquired on a large number of individuals (ag...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2014-08, Vol.9 (8), p.e103369-e103369
Main Authors: Kennedy, Daniel P, Adolphs, Ralph
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Adults
Autism
Behavior
Biology and Life Sciences
Child Development Disorders, Pervasive - diagnosis
Child Development Disorders, Pervasive - psychology
Child, Preschool
Children & youth
Comparative analysis
Correlation analysis
Data acquisition
Databases, Factual
Datasets
Diagnostic systems
Families & family life
Female
Genetics
Humanities
Humans
Laboratories
Laboratory experiments
Male
Medical diagnosis
Medicine and Health Sciences
Personal Space
Questionnaires
Social aspects
Social Behavior
Social distancing
Social interaction
Social Sciences
Studies
Substrates
Teenagers
Violations
Virtual reality
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The ability to maintain an appropriate physical distance (i.e., interpersonal distance) from others is a critical aspect of social interaction and contributes importantly to real-life social functioning. In Study 1, using parent-report data that had been acquired on a large number of individuals (ages 4-18 years) for the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange and the Simons Simplex Collection, we found that those with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD; n = 766) more often violated the space of others compared to their unaffected siblings (n = 766). This abnormality held equally across ASD diagnostic categories, and correlated with clinical measures of communication and social functioning. In Study 2, laboratory experiments in a sample of high-functioning adults with ASD demonstrated an altered relationship between interpersonal distance and personal space, and documented a complete absence of personal space in 3 individuals with ASD. Furthermore, anecdotal self-report from several participants confirmed that violations of social distancing conventions continue to occur in real-world interactions through adulthood. We suggest that atypical social distancing behavior offers a practical and sensitive measure of social dysfunction in ASD, and one whose psychological and neurological substrates should be further investigated.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0103369