Outcomes of real-world social interaction for autistic adults paired with autistic compared to typically developing partners

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

About the autistic author marker

Morrison, K. E., DeBrabander, K. M., Jones, D., Faso, D. J., Ackerman, R. A., & Sasson, N. (2019). Outcomes of real-world social interaction for autistic adults paired with autistic compared to typically developing partners. Autism, 24(5), 1067-1080. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361319892701

Publication date: 11 Dec 2019 Added to AutiHub: 23 Oct 2026 Type: Article Article language: English

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
6
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 6 (16.7%)

Abstract

Differences in social communication and interaction styles between autistic and typically developing have been studied in isolation and not in the context of real-world social interaction. The current study addresses this “blind spot” by examining whether real-world social interaction quality for autistic adults differs when interacting with typically developing relative to autistic partners. Participants (67 autism spectrum disorder, 58 typically developing) were assigned to one of three dyadic partnerships (autism–autism: n = 22; typically developing–typically developing: n = 23; autism–typically developing: n = 25; 55 complete dyads, 15 partial dyads) in which they completed a 5-min unstructured conversation with an unfamiliar person and then assessed the quality of the interaction and their impressions of their partner. Although autistic adults were rated as more awkward, less attractive, and less socially warm than typically developing adults by both typically developing and autistic partners, only typically developing adults expressed greater interest in future interactions with typically developing relative to autistic partners. In contrast, autistic participants trended toward an interaction preference for other autistic adults and reported disclosing more about themselves to autistic compared to typically developing partners. These results suggest that social affiliation may increase for autistic adults when partnered with other autistic people, and support reframing social interaction difficulties in autism as a relational rather than an individual impairment.

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: 23 Oct 2026 17:25.

Cited references
67
With a DOI
60
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
7
5 / 67 (7.5%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
3 / 67 (4.5%)
References with detected author names
65 / 67 (97.0%)
Without detected author names
2
Without a structured title
3
Without a stable identifier
7
References with raw author names still to review
2
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
221
From DOI or external metadata
221
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
4
83 / 221 (37.6%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 138 / 221 (62.4%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
5 / 221 (2.3%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 5 / 83 (6.0%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 5 / 183 (2.7%).
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