There has been a lack of research into the social and emotional experiences of autistic individuals, despite this being seen as a research priority by the UK autistic community. Understanding more about the social experiences of autistic individuals, and how this relates to their mental health may lead to better targeted interventions being developed.
The first part of this thesis aimed to review previous research on loneliness in autistic individuals (specifically literature comparing the levels of loneliness in autistic and neurotypical groups, as well as literature investigating the association between loneliness and anxiety/depression in autistic individuals). Thirty-four studies were identified following a systematic literature search. Of these, 20 studies looked at differences between loneliness rates in autistic and neurotypical individuals. Significant differences were found between groups, with autistic individuals consistently reporting higher loneliness levels compared with neurotypical individuals. The results of this review also found a significant association between loneliness and both anxiety (in 11 studies) and depression (in nine studies), with those reporting higher loneliness also reporting elevated anxiety and/or depressive symptoms. There were several limitations with this part of the thesis, which are described in more detail, along with the clinical implications and recommendations for further research regarding loneliness and mental health in autism.
The second part of this thesis investigated social identity in autistic and neurotypical adults. Social identity can be defined as your perceived belongingness to groups that you are a member of. Research among neurotypical people suggests there is an association between social identity (as measured by the number of groups one feels are important and the number of groups one feels positive about belonging to) and mental health. However, this has never been explored in autistic people. An online survey was created to explore social identification with groups and mental health in autistic adults, and whether this is different or similar to neurotypical adults. The survey included questions on demographics, group memberships, social identification and mental health (anxiety, depression and stress). In total, 199 autistic adults and 174 neurotypical adults completed the survey and were included in analyses.
The results showed that autistic individuals reported belonging to fewer overall groups, fewer important groups and fewer positive groups, compared with neurotypical individuals. In neurotypical individuals, having fewer numbers of positive groups was associated with having more anxiety (although not depression or stress). This association remained even after controlling for the impact that self-esteem, loneliness and Covid-19 had on participants’ mental health. No significant associations were found between social identification with groups and anxiety, depression or stress in the autistic sample. These findings suggest that social identification with groups may not contribute to the wellbeing of autistic adults. However, these findings are preliminary and should be interpreted with caution due to several limitations. The implications of these findings and recommendations for future research into social identity in autism are described in further detail.
