Awkward but so what: Differences in social trait preferences between autistic and non-autistic adults

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

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Dunn, D., de la Garza, J. D., Jones, D. R., & Sasson, N. J. (2023). Awkward but so what: Differences in social trait preferences between autistic and non-autistic adults. Neurodiversity, 1. https://doi.org/10.1177/27546330231203833

Publication date: 1 Jan 2023 Added to AutiHub: 13 Sep 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
4
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 4 (25.0%)
  1. Danny Dunn *
  2. Jay D. de la Garza
  3. Desiree R. Jones
  4. Noah J. Sasson

Abstract

Autistic and non-autistic observers form less favorable impressions of autistic adults relative to non-autistic adults, yet only non-autistic adults report lower interest in socially interacting with them. This discrepancy may relate to differences in how autistic and non-autistic people value and interpret social traits, with autistic people viewing characteristics such as “awkwardness” in neutral or positive terms rather than as a deterrent to interaction. Here, 24 autistic adults and 24 non-autistic adults rated themselves on 20 traits, their preferences for these traits in others, and their perception of them in an “average” person. Autistic participants rated themselves as more awkward, less socially keen, and less socially “normal” than non-autistic participants. Self-ratings and preferences in others correlated on three attributes—awkward, socially keen, and socially “normal”—with the autistic group demonstrating a large effect (r =.70) for partners similar to their self-perception of “normal”. Collectively, these findings suggest that common social descriptors like awkward have different appeals for autistic people and should not be universally assumed to be undesirable characteristics. Future studies should seek to replicate these findings with larger and more diverse samples and more established measures.

Bibliography cited by this reference

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

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 19 Sep 2026 07:57.

Cited references
38
With a DOI
32
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
6
4 / 38 (10.5%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
3 / 38 (7.9%)
References with detected author names
38 / 38 (100.0%)
Without detected author names
0
Without a structured title
3
Without a stable identifier
5
References with raw author names still to review
0
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
143
From DOI or external metadata
143
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
46 / 143 (32.2%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 97 / 143 (67.8%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
4 / 143 (2.8%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 4 / 46 (8.7%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 3 / 127 (2.4%).
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