Friendship Characteristics and Activity Patterns of Adolescents With an Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Friendship Characteristics and Activity Patterns of Adolescents With an Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Autism. 2011 Nov 15;

Authors: Kuo MH, Orsmond GI, Cohn ES, Coster WJ

Abstract

This study compared perceptions of adolescents’ friendships between adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their parents, examined factors associated with friendship qualities, and investigated the adolescents’ reports on the activities they did with friends and how activity patterns differed by gender. Ninety-one adolescents with an ASD and their parents completed mail-based surveys during the summer months. Adolescents with an ASD identified more friends than did their parents, but they agreed on the friends’ characteristics. About half of the adolescents spent an average of 4 hours per day with friends during the summer months. Male adolescents with an ASD most frequently played video games with friends, whereas females most frequently had conversations with friends. The findings suggest that adolescents with an ASD and their parents identify different peers as the adolescent’s friends. The findings also reveal similarities and differences in friendships between adolescents with an ASD and typically developing adolescents.

PMID: 22087043 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]