Understanding the Relationship Between Empathy and Social Responsiveness in Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Background: Empathy is the capacity to understand and experience the emotional states of others, and is an essential part of social functioning. Previous research indicates that individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are lacking in empathy and theory of mind, the ability to recognize and understand the thoughts, feelings, and internal states of others (Baron-Cohen & Wheelwright, 2004). Individuals with ASD also demonstrate impairment in social responsiveness (SRS; Constantino & Gruber, 2005), often resulting in the lack of behavioral repertoire necessary to interact with others according to social convention. While the relationship between empathy and social functioning has been examined extensively in the child and adolescent literature, less is known about the relationship between empathic social understanding and social responsiveness in young adults with ASD; thus, limiting our developmental understanding of these constructs.

Objectives: The present study seeks to examine the relationship between self-reported empathy and caregiver-reported social responsiveness in young adults with ASD. It is hypothesized that young adult self-reported empathic social understanding would be correlated with caregiver-reported social responsiveness in young adults with ASD.

Methods: Participants included 39 young adults between 18-27 years of age (M=20.5, SD=2.20) presenting for social skills treatment through the UCLA PEERS^® for Young Adults intervention. In order to understand the relationship between empathy and social responsiveness, baseline assessments of young adult self-perceived empathy were measured using the Empathy Quotient (EQ; Baron-Cohen and Wheelwright, 2004), while caregiver-reported perceptions of young adult social responsiveness were measured using the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS; Constantino, 2005). To examine the relationship between empathic social understanding and social responsiveness, baseline scores of the Social Skills Subscale of the EQ were correlated with both the Total Score and Subscale Scores of the SRS using Pearson correlations.

Results: Preliminary results reveal that greater impairment on the SRS Social Communication Subscale is significantly correlated with less empathic social understanding on the EQ Social Skills Subscale (p<.05). In addition, greater impairments on the SRS Total Score and Social Motivation Subscale are associated with less empathic social understanding on the EQ Social Skills Subscale at a trend level (p<.10).

Conclusions: Preliminary findings suggest a strong relationship between empathic social understanding and social responsiveness in young adults with ASD. In particular, deficient social communication abilities appear to be associated with diminished empathy. While the relationship between empathy and social functioning has been examined extensively among children and adolescents, the present study is only one of a few investigating this relationship among young adults with ASD.