Diagnostic status influences rapport and communicative behaviours in dyadic interactions between autistic and non-autistic people

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. two authors of this publication are identified as autistic in the project.

About the autistic author marker

Efthimiou, T. N., Lewis, S., Foster, S. J., Wilks, C., Dodd, M., Jiménez-Sánchez, L., Ropar, D., Ackerman, R. A., Sasson, N., Fletcher-Watson, S., & Crompton, C. J. (2025). Diagnostic status influences rapport and communicative behaviours in dyadic interactions between autistic and non-autistic people. PLOS One, 20(8), e0330222. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0330222

Publication date: 29 Aug 2025 Added to AutiHub: 5 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
11
Publication authors identified as autistic
2 / 11 (18.2%)

Abstract

A growing body of research suggests that the behaviours and experiences of autistic and non-autistic people are influenced by whether they are interacting with someone of the same or different diagnostic status. However, little is known about the relationship between these behaviours and the experiences of rapport in matched and mixed neurotype dyads. Using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model, our pre-registered analyses examine how participants' and their partners' diagnostic statuses influence linguistic, behavioural, and kinematic indices, and how these relate to feelings of rapport among autistic and (n = 57; 17 self-diagnosed) non-autistic (n = 51) participants interacting within autistic (n = 20), non-autistic (n = 17), and mixed autistic-non-autistic (n = 17) dyads. We found that autistic participants reported lower rapport regardless of their partner's diagnostic status, though awareness of their partner's diagnostic status had a moderating effect. We observed a linguistic difference, autistic participants produced longer mean utterance lengths, these and other behavioural or kinematic indices did not mediate the relationship between diagnostic status and rapport across neurotypes. The current work highlights the need for a nuanced understanding of communication dynamics in autism.

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: 2 Oct 2026 11:54.

Cited references
83
With a DOI
71
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
11
12 / 83 (14.5%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
5 / 83 (6.0%)
References with detected author names
79 / 83 (95.2%)
Without detected author names
4
Without a structured title
5
Without a stable identifier
11
References with raw author names still to review
3
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
275
From DOI or external metadata
275
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
3
105 / 275 (38.2%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 170 / 275 (61.8%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
16 / 275 (5.8%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 16 / 105 (15.2%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 13 / 229 (5.7%).
  1. Sanford Weisberg , John R. E. Fox (2010). An R Companion to Applied Regression .
    Type: Book OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W260994251
    OpenAlex
  2. Juan Lorenzo Hagad , Roberto Legaspi , Masayuki Numao , Merlin Suarez (2011). Predicting Levels of Rapport in Dyadic Interactions through Automatic Detection of Posture and Posture Congruence . 2011 IEEE Third Int'l Conference on Privacy, Security, Risk and Trust and 2011 IEEE Third Int'l Conference on Social Computing, 613-616. IEEE.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  3. Yves Rosseel (2012). lavaan: An R package for structural equation modeling . Journal of Statistical Software, 48(2), 1. Foundation for Open Access Statistic.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  4. NM Puccinelli (2023). Effect of dyadic context on judgments of rapport: Dyad task and partner presence . J Nonverbal Behav, 2.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  5. Douglas Bates , Martin Mächler , Ben Bolker , Steve Walker (2015). Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using lme4 . Journal of Statistical Software, 67(1), 1. Foundation for Open Access Statistic.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  6. Abdullah Alsarrani , Ruth F. Hunter , Laura Dunne , Leandro Garcia (2022). Association between friendship quality and subjective wellbeing among adolescents: a systematic review . BMC Public Health, 22(1), 2420. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  7. Judith A. Hall , Terrence G. Horgan , Nora A. Murphy (2019). Nonverbal Communication . Annual Review of Psychology, 70(1), 271-294. Annual Reviews.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  8. David A. Kenny , Thomas E. Malloy (1988). Partner effects in social interaction . Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 12(1), 34-57. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  9. Amy Orben , Livia Tomova , Sarah-Jayne Blakemore (2020). The effects of social deprivation on adolescent development and mental health . The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 4(8), 634. Elsevier BV.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  10. Helena C. Kraemer , Carol N. Jacklin (1979). Statistical analysis of dyadic social behavior. Psychological Bulletin, 86(2), 217-224. American Psychological Association (APA).
    Crossref OpenAlex
  11. Frank J. Bernieri , Janet M. Davis , Robert Rosenthal , C. Raymond Knee (1994). Interactional Synchrony and Rapport: Measuring Synchrony in Displays Devoid of Sound and Facial Affect . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 20(3), 303-311. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  12. Liam Cross , Gray Atherton , Natalie Sebanz (2021). Intentional synchronisation affects automatic imitation and source memory . Scientific Reports, 11(1), 573. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  13. Anthony P Atkinson , Winand H Dittrich , Andrew J Gemmell , Andrew W Young (2004). Emotion Perception from Dynamic and Static Body Expressions in Point-Light and Full-Light Displays . Perception, 33(6), 717-746. SAGE Publications.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1068/p5096 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W1997753914
    Crossref OpenAlex
  14. Bahar Tunçgenç , Emma Cohen , Christine Fawcett (2015). Rock With Me: The Role of Movement Synchrony in Infants' Social and Nonsocial Choices . Child Development, 86(3), 976-984. Oxford University Press (OUP).
    Crossref OpenAlex
  15. Lisa M. J. Andersen , Katharina Näswall , Irina Manouilenko , Lena Nylander , Johan Edgar , Riva Ariella Ritvo et al. (2011). The Swedish Version of the Ritvo Autism and Asperger Diagnostic Scale: Revised (RAADS-R). A Validation Study of a Rating Scale for Adults . Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 41(12), 1635-1645. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  16. Daniël Lakens , Mariëlle Stel (2011). If They Move in Sync, They Must Feel in Sync: Movement Synchrony Leads to Attributions of Rapport and Entitativity . Social Cognition, 29(1), 1-14. Guilford Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  17. Jennifer L. Cook , Sarah-Jayne Blakemore , Clare Press (2013). Atypical basic movement kinematics in autism spectrum conditions . Brain, 136(9), 2816-2824. Oxford University Press (OUP).
    Crossref OpenAlex
  18. Manuel Mello , Martina Fusaro , Salvatore Maria Aglioti , Ilaria Minio-Paluello (2024). Exploring social touch in autistic and non-autistic adults via a self-report body-painting task: The role of sex, social context and body area . Autism, 28(8), 1985-2001. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  19. Tanja Bänziger , Sona Patel , Klaus R. Scherer (2014). The Role of Perceived Voice and Speech Characteristics in Vocal Emotion Communication . Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 38(1), 31-52. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  20. R. C. M. Philip , H. C. Whalley , Andrew C. Stanfield , R. Sprengelmeyer , I. M. Santos , A. W. Young et al. (2010). Deficits in facial, body movement and vocal emotional processing in autism spectrum disorders . Psychological Medicine, 40(11), 1919-1929. Cambridge University Press (CUP).
    Crossref OpenAlex
  21. Jonna M Eriksson , Lisa MJ Andersen , Susanne Bejerot (2013). RAADS-14 Screen: validity of a screening tool for autism spectrum disorder in an adult psychiatric population . Molecular Autism, 4(1), 49. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  22. Themis Nikolas Efthimiou , Joshua Baker , Alasdair Clarke , Arthur Elsenaar , Marc Mehu , Sebastian Korb (2024). Zygomaticus activation through facial neuromuscular electrical stimulation (fNMES) induces happiness perception in ambiguous facial expressions and affects neural correlates of face processing . Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 19(1). Oxford University Press (OUP).
    Crossref OpenAlex
  23. David A. Kenny , Thomas Ledermann (2010). Detecting, measuring, and testing dyadic patterns in the actor–partner interdependence model. Journal of Family Psychology, 24(3), 359-366. American Psychological Association (APA).
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1037/a0019651 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2119199280
    Crossref OpenAlex
  24. Miles L. Patterson (2019). A Systems Model of Dyadic Nonverbal Interaction . Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 43(2), 111-132. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  25. Antonia F. de C. Hamilton , Judith Holler (2023). Face2face: advancing the science of social interaction . Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 378(1875), 20210470. The Royal Society.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  26. H Bohy (2022). pone. 0330222.ref017
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  27. K Jokinen (2016). Body movements and laughter recognition: experiments in first encounter dialogues . Proceedings of the Workshop on Multimodal Analyses enabling Artificial Agents in Human-Machine Interaction, 20.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  28. Aparna Nadig , Iris Lee , Leher Singh , Kyle Bosshart , Sally Ozonoff (2010). How does the topic of conversation affect verbal exchange and eye gaze? A comparison between typical development and high-functioning autism . Neuropsychologia, 48(9), 2730-2739. Elsevier BV.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  29. David A. Kenny (2018). Reflections on the actor–partner interdependence model . Personal Relationships, 25(2), 160-170. Wiley.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  30. Kary K. L. Chan , Carol K. S. To (2016). Do Individuals with High-Functioning Autism Who Speak a Tone Language Show Intonation Deficits? Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 46(5), 1784-1792. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  31. Einat Lavee , Guy Itzchakov (2023). Good listening: A key element in establishing quality in qualitative research . Qualitative Research, 23(3), 614-631. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  32. Dolores Elaine Battle (2013). [NO TITLE AVAILABLE] . CoDAS, 25(2), 190-191. FapUNIFESP (SciELO).
    OpenAlex
  33. Haneen Deeb , Sharon Leal , Aldert Vrij , Samantha Mann , Oliwia Dabrowna (2024). To Nod or Not to Nod: How Does Interviewer Nonverbal Behavior Affect Rapport Perceptions and Recall in Truth Tellers and Lie Tellers? Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 48(1), 25-45. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  34. Eithne Kavanagh , Jamie Whitehouse , Bridget M. Waller (2024). Being facially expressive is socially advantageous . Scientific Reports, 14(1), 12798. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  35. Zhe Cao , Gines Hidalgo , Tomas Simon , Shih-En Wei , Yaser Sheikh (2021). OpenPose: Realtime Multi-Person 2D Pose Estimation Using Part Affinity Fields . IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 43(1), 172-186. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
    Crossref OpenAlex
  36. Tanya Stivers (2021). Is Conversation Built for Two? The Partitioning of Social Interaction . Research on Language and Social Interaction, 54(1), 1-19. Informa UK Limited.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  37. Manuel Koller (2016). robustlmm: An R Package for Robust Estimation of Linear Mixed-Effects Models . Journal of Statistical Software, 75(6). Foundation for Open Access Statistic.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  38. Pablo Arias-Sarah , Daniel Bedoya , Christoph Daube , Jean-Julien Aucouturier , Lars Hall , Petter Johansson (2024). Aligning the smiles of dating dyads causally increases attraction . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(45), e2400369121-e2400369121. National Academy of Sciences.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  39. J Reynaldo A Santos (1999). Cronbach's Alpha: A Tool for Assessing the Reliability of Scales . Journal of Extension, 37(2), 1. Extension Journal Inc..
    Crossref OpenAlex
  40. (2013). pone. 0330222.ref026 Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5TM.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  41. Alexandra Kuznetsova , Per B. Brockhoff , Rune H. B. Christensen (2017). lmerTest Package: Tests in Linear Mixed Effects Models . Journal of Statistical Software, 82(13), 1. Foundation for Open Access Statistic.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  42. Richard Eugene Frye (2018). Social Skills Deficits in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Potential Biological Origins and Progress in Developing Therapeutic Agents . CNS Drugs, 32(8), 713-734. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  43. Dominic A. Trevisan , Maureen Hoskyn , Elina Birmingham (2018). Facial Expression Production in Autism: A Meta‐Analysis . Autism Research, 11(12), 1586-1601. Wiley.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1002/aur.2037 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2900252297
    Crossref OpenAlex
  44. Emma Kinnaird , Catherine Stewart , Kate Tchanturia (2019). Investigating alexithymia in autism: A systematic review and meta-analysis . European Psychiatry, 55, 80-89. Cambridge University Press (CUP).
    Crossref OpenAlex
  45. Holly Matthewman , Emily Zane , Ruth Grossman (2022). Comparing Frequency of Listener Responses Between Adolescents with and Without ASD During Conversation . Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 52(3), 1007-1018. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  46. James P. Trujillo , Asli Özyürek , Cornelis C. Kan , Irina Sheftel‐Simanova , Harold Bekkering (2021). Differences in the production and perception of communicative kinematics in autism . Autism Research, 14(12), 2640-2653. Wiley.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1002/aur.2611 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W3162526852
    Crossref OpenAlex
  47. Kerrianne E Morrison , Kilee M. DeBrabander , Daniel J Faso , Noah Sasson (2019). Variability in first impressions of autistic adults made by neurotypical raters is driven more by characteristics of the rater than by characteristics of autistic adults . Autism, 23(7), 1817-1829. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  48. Haylie L. Miller , Tylan N. Templin , Nicholas E. Fears , Gabriela M. Sherrod , Rita M. Patterson , Nicoleta L. Bugnariu (2023). Movement smoothness during dynamic postural control to a static target differs between autistic and neurotypical children . Gait & Posture, 99, 76-82. Elsevier BV.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  49. Devyn Glass , Nicola Yuill (2024). Social motor synchrony in autism spectrum conditions: A systematic review . Autism, 28(7), 1638-1653. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  50. Shih-En Wei , Varun Ramakrishna , Takeo Kanade , Yaser Sheikh (2016). Convolutional Pose Machines . 2016 IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), 4724-4732. IEEE.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  51. Kerrianne E Morrison , Kilee M. DeBrabander , Desiree R Jones , Daniel J Faso , Robert A. Ackerman , Noah Sasson (2020). Outcomes of real-world social interaction for autistic adults paired with autistic compared to typically developing partners . Autism, 24(5), 1067-1080. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  52. Olivia M. Rifai , Sue Fletcher-Watson , Lorena Jiménez-Sánchez , Catherine J. Crompton (2022). Investigating Markers of Rapport in Autistic and Nonautistic Interactions . Autism in Adulthood, 4(1), 3-11. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  53. Kathryn A McNaughton , Alexandra Moss , Heather A Yarger , Elizabeth Redcay (2024). Smiling synchronization predicts interaction enjoyment in peer dyads of autistic and neurotypical youth . Autism, 28(11), 2754-2767. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  54. Yu-Lun Chen , Laura L Senande , Michael Thorsen , Kristie Patten (2021). Peer preferences and characteristics of same-group and cross-group social interactions among autistic and non-autistic adolescents . Autism, 25(7), 1885-1900. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  55. W Revelle (2023). psych: Procedures for Psychological, Psychometric, and Personality Research . psych: Procedures for Psychological, Psychometric, and Personality Research.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  56. Patrick E. Shrout , Joseph L. Fleiss (1979). Intraclass correlations: Uses in assessing rater reliability. Psychological Bulletin, 86(2), 420-428. American Psychological Association (APA).
    Crossref OpenAlex
  57. Tomas Simon , Hanbyul Joo , Iain Matthews , Yaser Sheikh (2017). Hand Keypoint Detection in Single Images Using Multiview Bootstrapping . 2017 IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), 4645-4653. IEEE.
    Type: Other DOI: 10.1109/cvpr.2017.494
    Crossref
  58. Themis Nikolas Efthimiou (2025). duet: Analysing Non-Verbal Communication in Dyadic Interactions from Video Data . CRAN: Contributed Packages. The R Foundation.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  59. Devyn Glass , Nicola Yuill (2024). Moving Together: Social Motor Synchrony in Autistic Peer Partners Depends on Partner and Activity Type . Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 54(8), 2874-2890. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  60. (n.d.). ELAN (Version 6. 9) [Computer software]. Nijmegen: Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, The Language Archive; 2024. https://archive.mpi.nl/tla/elan
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  61. So Yoon Kim , Da-Yea Song , Kristen Bottema-Beutel , Kristen Gillespie-Lynch (2024). Time to level up: A systematic review of interventions aiming to reduce stigma toward autistic people . Autism, 28(4), 798-815. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  62. (n.d.). R Core Team. R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing; 2023. https://www . R-project.org/
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  63. Ruihan Wu , Antonia F. de C. Hamilton , Sarah White (2024). Can group membership modulate the social abilities of autistic people? An intergroup bias in smile perception . Cortex, 173, 150-160. Elsevier BV.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  64. (n.d.). Lenth RV. emmeans: Estimated Marginal Means, aka Least-Squares Means. 2024. https://CRAN . R-project.org/package=emmeans
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  65. Renske van der Cruijsen , Sander Begeer , Eveline A Crone (2024). The role of autism and alexithymia traits in behavioral and neural indicators of self-concept and self-esteem in adolescence . Autism, 28(9), 2346-2361. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  66. John R. E. Fox (2019). An R companion to applied regression . An R companion to applied regression.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  67. Ceci Q. Cai , Sarah White , Sinead H. Y. Chen , Marie A. E. Mueller , Sophie K. Scott (2024). Autistic adults perceive and experience laughter differently to non-autistic adults . Scientific Reports, 14(1), 11590. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  68. William Revelle (2007). psych: Procedures for Psychological, Psychometric, and Personality Research . CRAN: Contributed Packages. The R Foundation.
    OpenAlex
  69. Emily R Zane , Ruth B Grossman (2024). Normal but Different: Autistic Adolescents Who Score Within Normal Ranges on Standardized Language Tests Produce Frequent Linguistic Irregularities in Spontaneous Discourse . Autism & Developmental Language Impairments, 9, 23969415241283378. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex
  70. GO Lawley (2023). Computational Analysis of Backchannel Usage and Overlap Length in Autistic Children. Proceedings of the First Workshop on Connecting Multiple Disciplines to AI Techniques in Interaction-centric Autism Research and Diagnosis (ICARD 2023), 17.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  71. IB Rodriguez (2017). Gesture Elicitation Study on How to Opt-in & Opt-out from Interactions with Public Displays . Proceedings of the 2017 ACM International Conference on Interactive Surfaces and Spaces, 32.
    Type: Other
    Crossref