University Students' Explicit Stereotypes of Peers on the Autism Spectrum

Background: Students on the Autism Spectrum (AS) often face difficulties in higher education contexts due to problems with social interactions, changes in routines and expectations, and difficulties living independently that are greater than those encountered by neurotypical students (Lai et al., 2014).  Little research has examined the explicit stereotypes that college students may hold towards AS students. These attitudes likely negatively affect neurodiverse students’ feelings of acceptance by their peers and integration into college life, further compounding their challenges.

Objectives: The goal of this study was to evaluate college students’ attitudes towards students on the AS within a classroom setting and their relations to self-reported autistic behaviors.

Methods: Participants were 1143 university students (61.9% female, 64.2% freshman) recruited from introductory Psychology classes across three semesters. Students completed the Autism Quotient (AQ; Baron-Cohen et al., 2001) to assess autistic behaviors.  In addition, participants were asked whether autistic students had influenced their classroom experiences, and then responded to the question: “What behaviors do you feel are characteristic of an autistic college student?”  Responses were first categorized as reflecting negative or positive qualities.  They were then coded into five categories based on the AQ subscales (Communication Difficulties, lack of Social Skills, poor Attention Switching, exceptional Attention to Detail, poor Imagination), and six codes reflective of students’ responses that did not fit within the AQ model (high Intelligence and Exceptional Specific Skills, repetitive Habits and Routines, Distractibility, Variable Moods, Sensitive to Stimuli, and Difficulty Understanding Tasks).  Inter-rater agreement between three coders was established at 90% with disagreements resolved through discussion.   

Results:  When asked whether their classroom experience had been influenced by an autistic student, 35.3% of the sample did not respond.  Of the responders, 52.2% answered in the affirmative. All students responded to the open-ended question.  The majority of students (97.9%) cited negative behaviors as being characteristic of an autistic student whereas 22.4% also provided positive characteristics. Females reported significantly more negative characteristics than males, t(1142) = 2.59, p < .001. The frequencies of responses to the 11 categories are presented in Table 1.  There was one gender difference in which girls cited more Communication Difficulties than males, t(1142) = 3.93, p < .001. The most frequently cited behaviors were Communication Difficulties (78.8%), poor Social Skills (33.1%), high Intelligence and Specific Skills (24.9%), and poor Attention Switching (extreme focus, 15.3%). Partial correlations (controlling for gender, academic year, social anxiety) between AQ scores and the 11 codes (see Table 2) indicated that the AQ was significantly negatively correlated to:  Negative Behaviors, Positive Behaviors, Communication Difficulties, Social Skills, Attention to Detail, Intelligence and Specific Skills, and Variable Moods. 

Conclusions:  The findings indicate that students on the AS are perceived to exhibit more negative than positive characteristics. However, students who report fewer autistic behaviors hold these perceptions more strongly than those who report more autistic behaviors.  These findings suggest that more effort is needed to develop welcoming college environments for neurodiverse students.