Perceptions of Popularity and Social Skills Among Adolescents with ASD: Comparing Adolescent, Parent, and Teacher Reports

Background:  

Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) often lack the ability to perceive their social deficits and popularity standing accurately. Consequently, there is often a discrepancy between how individuals with ASD perceive their peer relationships and how others perceive them (Kasari & Rotheram-Fuller, 2007).  Koning and Magill-Evans (2001) found that adolescent boys with ASD rated themselves more socially competent than did their parents or teachers. Bauminger and Kasari (2000) noted that parents of children aged 8-14 years reported that many of the friends they identified for their children with autism were “desired” friends, rather than “actual” friendships. Furthermore, when peer social networks among children with ASD were examined, peer nominations indicated that children with ASD perceived themselves as having more friends than they actually did (Rotheram-Fuller, 2005). While discrepancies between self versus other perceptions of social functioning have been examined to some extent, less is known about perception of popularity standing among adolescents with ASD.

Objectives:  

This study seeks to examine the relationship between adolescent self-perception of social functioning in comparison to parent and teacher perceptions. Correlations between adolescent self-reported popularity, and parent and teacher perceptions of overall social skills on three standardized measures were investigated.

Methods:

217 adolescents with ASD ranging from 11-18 years of age (M = 13.80; SD = 1.69) participated in the study. Adolescent participants completed the Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale 2^nd Edition (PHS; Piers, Harris & Herzberg, 2002) to assess for self-perceived popularity, while parents (n=187) and teachers (n=92) completed the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS; Gresham & Elliott, 1990) to assess for overall social functioning.

Results:

Pearson correlations were conducted to determine whether correlations exist between adolescent self-perceived popularity, parent perceptions of adolescents’ social skills, and teacher perceptions of adolescents’ social skills. Results suggest that adolescent-report of self-perceived popularity was not significantly correlated with parents’ perception of the adolescent’s social skills (r=.138; p<.05), nor the teacher’s perception of the adolescent’s social skills (r=.158; p<.07). However, parent and teacher perceptions of adolescent social skills were significantly correlated (r=.238; p<.05).

Conclusions:

These results reveal that adolescents with ASD do not appear to perceive their level of popularity in accordance with how their parents and teachers perceive their level of social functioning; however, parents and teachers appear to be in agreement. These findings suggest that adolescents with ASD may actually perceive their social standing as greater than their actual social skill abilities might allow.