The Relationships Among Autism Spectrum Disorder Traits, Loneliness, and Social Networking Service Use in College Studen
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ORIGINAL PAPER
The Relationships Among Autism Spectrum Disorder Traits, Loneliness, and Social Networking Service Use in College Students Kota Suzuki1 · Yuhei Oi2 · Masumi Inagaki3
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract This study aimed to explore the relationships among autism spectrum disorder (ASD) traits, loneliness, and social networking services (SNS) use. We created a questionnaire to evaluate manners during LINE use, which included five factors: “low literacy,” “inactive use,” “low responsiveness,” “lack of consideration,” and “low group activity.” Structural equation modeling revealed that difficulties in attention switching and low communication skills were associated with low literacy, low social skills were associated with inactive use, and low literacy and inactive use were associated with loneliness. We suggested that SNS use plays a role in maintaining and enhancing friendships, whereas college students with higher ASD traits tend to use inappropriate manners for SNS, which is associated with loneliness. Keywords Social networking services (SNS) · Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) · Loneliness · Friendship · College students
Introduction Difficulty with initiating and sustaining reciprocal social interactions is one of the main symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD; American Psychiatric Association 2013; World Health Organization 2019). Individuals with ASD tend to experience higher degrees of loneliness than individuals with typical development (Lasgaard et al. 2010; Sundberg 2018; Whitehouse et al. 2009). Further, compared to adults with other developmental disorders, those with ASD tend to be more socially isolated (Orsmond et al. 2013). It is known that ASD traits are continuously distributed in the general population (Baron-Cohen et al. 2001), and ASD traits have been shown to be positively correlated with loneliness in college students (Jobe and White 2007). * Kota Suzuki [email protected]; [email protected] 1
Faculty of Education, Shitennoji University, 3‑2‑1 Gakuenmae, Habikino, Osaka, Japan
2
Faculty of Education, Tokoha University, 6‑1 Yayoi‑cho, Shizuoka, Shizuoka, Japan
3
Department of Developmental Disorders, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (NCNP), 4‑1‑1 Ogawahigashi, Kodaira, Tokyo, Japan
Furthermore, loneliness has been shown to be associated with mental and physical health problems (Heinrich and Gullone 2006), and is positively correlated with depression and thoughts of self-harm in adults with ASD (Hedley et al. 2018). In short, ASD traits are associated with loneliness, which could potentially lead to mental health problems. Thus, it is important for those engaged in clinical practice with individuals with ASD to understand the mechanism behind the association between ASD and loneliness. People can communicate with each other both by faceto-face contact and social networking services (SNS). In previous studies, extraversion was found to be associated with havi
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