Predictors of Peer Interaction Success for Autistic and Non-Autistic Youth

Abstract

Successful peer interactions are a crucial component of mental health and well-being for autistic and non-autistic youth. Factors that influence successful peer interactions are particularly relevant to investigate in middle childhood and adolescence, a developmental period in which peer interactions take on increased importance for mental health. Research into social interactions can involve both individual-level and interindividual-level understanding of interaction outcomes. Individual-level predictors can yield insight into the way one’s own characteristics predict social interaction outcomes, for example, informing theories about how an individual’s social motivation may predict their social enjoyment. However, because research into social interaction challenges and success in autism has historically focused on individual-level contributions of autistic individuals to social interaction outcomes, it is also important to understand interindividual-level mechanisms, such as the similarity or synchrony between individuals, to understand the role both non-autistic and autistic individuals play in shaping social interactions and their outcomes. Therefore, the overarching goal of this dissertation is to evaluate potential neural and behavioral predictors of peer interaction success in autistic and non-autistic youth during middle childhood and adolescence at the individual and interindividual level. First, I demonstrate that neural sensitivity to social-interactive reward is an individual-level predictor of peer interaction enjoyment. Next, I move beyond individual-level neural predictors to interindividual-level neural predictors, providing evidence for how neural similarity to peers may differentially relate to day-to-day interaction success across different interaction types, such as interactions with peers. Finally, I establish smiling synchronization as an interindividual predictor of peer interaction enjoyment. These studies span the neural and behavioral levels of analysis, providing insight into how these levels of analysis can be investigated from both an individual and interindividual perspective. The findings advance understanding of factors that predict peer interaction success, leading to better understanding of opportunities to support successful peer interactions through individual and interindividual interventions with autistic and non-autistic youth.