A Preliminary Investigation Into the Relationship Between Autistic Traits and Self-Compassion

Abstract

Self-compassion refers to the extension of kindness to oneself when faced with feelings of inadequacies, shortcomings or failures. It is possible that individuals high in autistic traits may encounter difficulties with self-compassion, and this could be particularly pronounced due to the social challenges they might face. To explore this potential relationship, we recruited university students and members of the general population to an online survey (n = 176). Participants completed measures on demographics, autistic traits, and self-compassion. We found that autistic traits were indeed negatively correlated with self-compassion in both males and females. Interestingly, a comparison of the slopes showed significantly stronger relationships in males compared to females for the negative (but not the positive) subscales of the self-compassion scale. Although speculative at this point, it is possible that self-compassion acts as a mediator between autistic traits and psychopathology. With this in mind, further work is warranted to determine whether self-compassion could be a target for therapeutic intervention.

The indirect effect of self-compassion in the association between autistic traits and anxiety/depression: A cross-sectional study in autistic and non-autistic adults

“…This study replicated previous research focused on the relationships between autistic traits, self-compassion and anxiety/depressive symptoms in non-autistic samples (Galvin et al, 2021;Howes et al, 2021) and extended this to an autistic sample. Investigation of these relationships in autistic people is important because self-compassion may serve to reduce anxious/depressive symptomatology and could be a target for clinical intervention in this group.…”

“…Considering autistic people are at higher risk of mental health problems than non-autistic people (Lai et al, 2019), and that autistic people process and respond to emotional events differently than non-autistic people (Winkielman et al, 2009), research is needed to explore the correlates of self-compassion in an autistic sample. Previous research focused on non-clinical samples revealed negative correlations between autistic traits and self-compassion ( r = –0.51 in Howes et al, 2021; r = –0.46 in Galvin et al, 2021). In the study by Galvin et al (2021), an indirect effect was found between autistic traits and anxiety/depression via self-compassion in an undergraduate student sample.…”

“…These findings have led researchers to speculate on the role of self-compassion in the mental health experiences of autistic people (Cai & Brown, 2021;Howes et al, 2021).…”

“…These findings have led researchers to speculate on the role of self-compassion in the mental health experiences of autistic people (Cai & Brown, 2021; Howes et al, 2021). As suggested by Cai and Brown (2021), cultivating self-compassion in autistic people may help with efforts to reduce mental health problems in this population.…”

Compassion-focused therapy with autistic adults

“…Four cross-sectional studies - with samples of up to 164 adults ( Galvin et al, 2021 ; Howes et al, 2021 ; Cai et al, 2022 ; Galvin and Richards, 2022 ), and using self-report measures (including the Self-Compassion Scale; Neff, 2003 ) – and one qualitative interview study ( n = 11; Wilson et al, 2022 ), have examined levels of self-compassion in adults with a formal autism diagnosis, self-identified autism and/or non-autistic adults, and associations between self-compassion, autistic traits and mental health. Together, quantitative findings suggest that autistic people, and people with autistic traits, report lower self-compassion than comparison non-autistic samples.…”