Theory of Mind and Social Informant Discrepancy in Autism

Collins, A. S., Carroll, K. J., Gerber, A. H., Keenan, E. G., & Lerner, M. D. (2024). Theory of Mind and Social Informant Discrepancy in Autism. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 57(1), 10-24. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-024-01676-4

Publication date: 19 Mar 2024 Added to AutiHub: 9 Aug 2026 Type: Article Article language: English

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Publication authors
5
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 5 (20.0%)

Abstract

Abstract When autistic youth are asked to assess their own social skills, they frequently rate themselves more favorably than their parents rate them. The magnitude of this informant discrepancy has been shown to relate to key clinical outcomes such as treatment response. It has been proposed that this discrepancy arises from difficulties with Theory of Mind. Participants were 167 youth 11 to 17 years old; 72% male, and their parents. Youth completed self-report measures of social skills and social cognitive tasks, while their parents completed questionnaires regarding social skills. A repeated-measures ANOVA indicated both non-autistic and autistic youth rated themselves more favorably than their parents rated them across all measures. Zero-order correlations revealed that raw differences between parent- and participant-report were negatively correlated with scores on parent-reported Theory of Mind measures. However, polynomial analysis did not indicate interaction effects between parent- and participant-report on any of the measures used. Polynomial regression revealed that increases in parent-reported social skill predicted larger increases in parent-report Theory of Mind at low levels of parent-reported social skill compared to high levels of parent-reported social skill. Participant-report social skills predicted performance on a behavioral Theory of Mind test in a curvilinear fashion, such that the relationship was positive at low levels of participant-reported social skills, but negative at high levels. This study replicates the finding that raw difference score analyses may result in illusory effects that are not supported when using more contemporary analysis methods, and that more complex and subtle relationships between social insight and perspective-taking exist within autistic youth.

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Cited references
56
Total cited references integrated for this publication.
Cited references with an identified autistic author
3 / 56 (5.4%)
Cited author occurrences identified as autistic
3 / 224 (1.3%)
Among occurrences linked to AutiHub author records: 3 / 38 (7.9%). Distinct cited authors identified as autistic: 3 / 190 (1.6%).
Cited author occurrences linked to AutiHub author records
38 / 224 (17.0%)
Distinct linked cited authors: 25 / 190 (13.2%)
Linked cited-author occurrences not identified as autistic
35 / 38 (92.1%)
Among linked cited-author occurrences only. Across all cited-author occurrences: 35 / 224 (15.6%). Distinct linked cited authors not identified as autistic: 22 / 25 (88.0%).
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