Impact of Social Motivation and Communication on Friendship and Loneliness in Autism

Friendships and loneliness are both major contributors to happiness and life satisfaction. This study probes group differences in friendship and loneliness in autism, and their links to social motivation and social communication skills. This study includes participants with autism (n = 28), loss of autism diagnosis (n = 29), and neurotypical developmental histories (n = 36). Participants completed an online survey including measures of social motivation, social communication, friendship, and loneliness. Findings indicated group differences in social communication, friendship, and loneliness, but not social motivation. There were significant associations between social motivation and friendship, social communication and friendship, age and friendship, and friendship and loneliness across diagnostic groups. In addition, social communication was the strongest predictor of friendship among the tested variables. Age, but not social motivation, moderated the relationship between friendship and loneliness. These results suggest that age and challenges with communication may be important to friendship-making and maintenance in individuals with ASD, emphasizing the need for social skill interventions to decrease loneliness among autistic individuals.