“I Always Ended Up Getting Close to Other People Who are Autistic”: Autistic College Students’ Friendship Development

Nachman, B. R., Isaacson, K., Cox, B. E., & McDermott, C. (2025). “I Always Ended Up Getting Close to Other People Who are Autistic”: Autistic College Students’ Friendship Development. The Journal of Higher Education, 97(4), 734-759. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2025.2497184

Publication date: 18 Jun 2025 Added to AutiHub: 6 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
4
Publication authors identified as autistic
2 / 4 (50.0%)

Abstract

Finding community is often a pivotal component of the college experience. With autistic students on the rise across higher education, an opportunity exists to discover how this marginalized community uniquely builds relationships, especially given the nuances associated with their communication and ways of finding like-minded individuals. This phenomenological study explores how autistic college students foster social connectedness with the goal of understanding how higher education may better support this unique student population. We conducted interviews with 43 autistic undergraduate college students, as part of a larger nationwide study on autistic college student success. Our findings illuminate three ways autistic college students foster social connectedness: engaging in autistic spaces, practicing autistic authenticity, and bonding over shared interests. We build on the theoretical model of belonging for college students with disabilities by showing the importance of modality, vulnerability, and niche outlets as helping foster connection among autistic college students. We encourage practitioners to build more clubs and affinity spaces for autistic students to connect, which may prompt researchers to explore how particular settings help autistic students in building bonds.

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Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Bibliography inclusion overview

These indicators describe the cited bibliography imported for this publication. Cited-reference metrics use the cited-reference total as denominator. Cited-author metrics state whether they use all cited-author occurrences or only occurrences linked to authors already integrated in the AutiHub database. They use cached links between cited authors and authors integrated in the AutiHub database. Last computed: 16 Aug 2026 11:31.

Cited references
70
Total cited references integrated for this publication.
Cited references with an identified autistic author
9 / 70 (12.9%)
Cited author occurrences identified as autistic
19 / 181 (10.5%)
Among occurrences linked to AutiHub author records: 19 / 71 (26.8%). Distinct cited authors identified as autistic: 17 / 175 (9.7%).
Cited author occurrences linked to AutiHub author records
71 / 181 (39.2%)
Distinct linked cited authors: 66 / 175 (37.7%)
Linked cited-author occurrences not identified as autistic
52 / 71 (73.2%)
Among linked cited-author occurrences only. Across all cited-author occurrences: 52 / 181 (28.7%). Distinct linked cited authors not identified as autistic: 49 / 66 (74.2%).
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