Do I enjoy my friends? Friendship and enjoyment during recess in autistic and non-autistic children

Friendships play a crucial role in children’s well-being and school experiences. This study aimed to gain a better understanding of how autistic and non-autistic children's friendships are related to their enjoyment of the school time spent with peers, i.e. at recess time (school break time). A multi-method approach, including self-reports, peer nominations, and objective measures based on sensor data was used. Forty-five autistic children and 45 non-autistic children from two special education schools participated, aged between 8 to 14 years. Outcomes showed that autistic and non-autistic children did not differ regarding the number of reciprocal and non-reciprocated friends. Yet, autistic children spent less time in contact with their reciprocal friends during recess at the schoolyard compared to their non-autistic peers. Also, while non-autistic pupils spent more time with reciprocal friends than with non-reciprocated ones, this difference was not found among autistic pupils. Notably, spending more time with non-reciprocated friends during recess was related to lower levels of enjoyment in both autistic and non-autistic children. Our findings suggest that autistic children may approach friendships with different priorities. Furthermore, this study underscores the need to consider broader factors beyond reciprocity when assessing children’s social experience at school. • Autistic and non-autistic children nominated a similar number of friends. • Autistic children spent equal time with all friends, whereas non-autistic children spent more time with reciprocal friends. • More social contact with non-reciprocated friends contributed to less enjoyment at recess, for both groups. • Sensor technology offers fine-grained spatio-temporal data on child social contact in school settings. • Multi-method approach: peer nominations, self-reports, and wearable sensor data.