Abstract
Individuals with Williams Syndrome (WS) are hypersocial, overfriendly, and experience social skills deficits that may adversely impact their social outcomes. This study examined the relation between social skills, friendship quality, and feelings of loneliness for adults with WS as reported by 114 parent-adult with WS dyads. Results indicate that although most friends do not live close-by, adults with WS have good quality friendships and do not report high feelings of loneliness. Positive friendship qualities were found to partially mediate the relationship between social skills impairments and social feelings of loneliness. Findings indicate that although adults with WS experience social skills deficits and struggle to maintain friendships in their immediate community, they still report positive friendship qualities and low feelings of loneliness.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bauminger-Zviely, N. (2013). Friendships. In F. Volkmar (Ed.), The encyclopedia of autism spectrum disorders (pp. 1326–1333). New York: Springer.
Blair, C. (2002). School readiness: Integrating cognition and emotion in a neurobiological conceptualization of children’s functioning at school entry. American Psychologist,57, 111–127. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.57.2.111.
Bukowski, W. M., Hoza, B., & Boivin, M. (1994). Measuring friendship quality during pre- and early adolescence: The development and psychometric properties of the friendship qualities scale. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships,11, 471–484. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407594113011.
Burholt, V., & Scharf, T. (2014). Poor health and loneliness in later life: The role of depressive symptoms, social resources, and rural environments. Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences,69, 311–324. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbt121.
Burholt, V., Windle, G., & Morgan, D. J. (2017). A social model of loneliness: The roles of disability, social resources, and cognitive impairment. Gerontologist,57, 1020–1030. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnw125.
Cleaver, S., Ouellette-Kuntz, H., & Sakar, A. (2010). Participation in intellectual disability research: A review of 20 years of studies. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research,54, 187–193. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2788.2010.01256.x.
Constantino, J., & Gruber, C. (2005). The social responsiveness scale. Los Angeles, CA: Western Psychological Services.
Davies, M., Howlin, P., & Udwin, O. (1997). Independence and adaptive behavior in adults with Williams syndrome. American Journal of Medical Genetics,70, 188–195. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1096-8628(19970516)70:2%3c188:AID-AJMG16%3e3.0.CO;2-F.
Davies, M., Udwin, O., & Howlin, P. (1998). Adults with William syndrome: Preliminary study of social, emotional, and behavioural difficulties. The British Journal of Psychiatry,172, 273–276. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.172.3.273.
Didden, R., Scholte, R. H. L., Korzilius, H., De Moor, J. M. H., Vermeulen, A., O’Reilly, M., et al. (2009). Cyberbullying among students with intellectual and developmental disability in special education settings. Developmental Neurorehabilitation,12, 146–151. https://doi.org/10.1080/17518420902971356.
DiTommaso, E., & Spinner, B. (1993). The development and initial validation of the Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults (SELSA). Personality and Individual Differences,14, 127–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/0191-8869(93)90182-3.
Doyle, T. F., Bellugi, U., Korenberg, J. R., & Graham, J. (2004). “Everybody in the world is my friend” hypersociability in young children with Williams syndrome. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A,124(3), 263–273. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajmg.a.20416.
Dykens, E. M. (2003). Anxiety, fears, and phobias in persons with Williams syndrome. Developmental Neuropsychology,23, 291–316. https://doi.org/10.1080/87565641.2003.9651896.
Elison, S., Stinton, C., & Howlin, P. (2010). Health and social outcomes in adults with Williams syndrome: Findings from cross-sectional and longitudinal cohorts. Research in Developmental Disabilities,31, 587–599. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2009.12.013.
English, B., & Tickle, A. (2018). Views and experiences of people with intellectual disabilities regarding intimate relationships: A qualitative meta-synthesis. Sexuality and Disability,36, 149–173. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11195-017-9502-z.
Fisher, M. H., Lense, M. D., & Dykens, E. M. (2016). Longitudinal trajectories of intellectual and adaptive functioning in adolescents and adults with Williams syndrome. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research,60, 920–932. https://doi.org/10.1111/jir.12303.
Fisher, M. H., & Morin, L. (2017). Addressing social skills deficits in adults with Williams syndrome. Research in Developmental Disabilities,71, 77–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2017.10.008.
Fryns, J. P., Borghgraef, M., Volcke, P., & Van den Berghe, H. (1991). Adults with Williams syndrome. American Journal of Medical Genetics,40, 253. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajmg.1320400228.
Gantman, A., Kapp, S. K., Orenski, K., & Laugeson, E. A. (2012). Social skills training for young adults with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders: A randomized controlled pilot study. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,42, 1094–1103. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-011-1350-6.
Gilmore, L., & Cuskelly, M. (2014). Vulnerability to loneliness in people with intellectual disability: An explanatory model. Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities,11, 192–199. https://doi.org/10.1111/jppi.12089.
Gosch, A., & Pankau, R. (1997). Personality characteristics and behaviour problems in individuals of different ages with Williams syndrome. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology,39, 527–533. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8749.1997.tb07481.x.
Haas, B. W., Hoeft, F., Searcy, Y. M., Mills, D., Bellugi, U., & Reiss, A. (2010). Individual differences in social behavior predict amygdala response to fearful facial expressions in Williams syndrome. Neuropsychologia,48, 1283–1288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.12.030.
Hayes, A. F. (2013). Model templates for PROCESS for SPSS and SAS.
Heiman, T. (2000). Friendship quality among children in three educational settings. Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability,25, 1–12.
Hillier, L. W., Fulton, R. S., Fulton, L. A., Graves, T. A., Pepin, K. H., Wagner-McPherson, C., et al. (2003). The DNA sequence of human chromosome 7. Nature,424(6945), 157–164. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01782.
Järvinen, A., Ng, R., & Bellugi, U. (2015). Autonomic response to approachability characteristics, approach behavior, and social functioning in Williams syndrome. Neuropsychologia,78, 159–170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.10.012.
Järvinen-Pasley, A., Adolphs, R., Yam, A., Hill, K. J., Grichanik, M., Reilly, J., et al. (2010). Affiliative behavior in Williams syndrome: Social perception and real-life social behavior. Neuropsychologia,48, 2110–2119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.03.032.
Jones, W., Bellugi, U., Lai, Z., Chiles, M., Reilly, J., Lincoln, A., et al. (2000). II. Hypersociability in Williams syndrome. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience,12(Supplement 1), 30–46.
Klein-Tasman, B. P., Li-Barber, K. T., & Magargee, E. T. (2011). Honing in on the social phenotype in Williams syndrome using multiple measures and multiple raters. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,41, 341–351. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-010-1060-5.
Leyfer, O. T., Woodruff-Borden, J., Klein-Tasman, B., Fricke, J., & Mervis, C. B. (2006). Prevalence of psychiatric disorders in 4–16-year olds with Williams syndrome. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B (Neuropsychiatric Genetics),114B, 615–622. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajmg.b.30344.
Lough, E., & Fisher, M. H. (2016). Internet use and online vulnerability in adults with Williams syndrome. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research,60, 1020–1030. https://doi.org/10.1111/jir.12281.
Lough, E., Flynn, E., & Riby, D. (2015). Mapping real-world to online vulnerability in young people with developmental disorders: Illustrations from autism and Williams syndrome. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,2, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40489-014-0029-2.
Martens, M. A., Wilson, S. J., & Reutens, D. C. (2008). Williams syndrome: A critical review of the cognitive, behavioral, and neuroanatomical phenotype. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry,49, 576–608. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2008.01887.x.
Matheson, C., Olsen, R. J., & Weisner, T. (2007). A good friend is hard to find: Friendship among adolescents with disabilities. American Journal on Mental Retardation,112, 319–329.
Mazurek, M. O. (2014). Loneliness, friendship, and well-being in adults with autism spectrum disorders. Autism,18, 223–232. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361312474121.
Mervis, C. B., & Klein-Tasman, B. P. (2000). Williams syndrome: Cognition, personality, and adaptive behavior. Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews,6(2), 148–158.
Mervis, C. B., & Pitts, C. H. (2015). Children with Williams syndrome: Developmental trajectories for intellectual abilities, vocabulary abilities, and adaptive behaviour. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part C,9999, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajmg.c.31436.
Nangle, D. W., Erdley, C. A., Newman, J. E., Mason, C. A., & Carpenter, E. M. (2003). Popularity, friendship quantity, and friendship quality: Interactive influences on children's loneliness and depression. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology,32(4), 546–555.
Perlman, D., & Peplau, L. A. (1998). Loneliness. In H. Friedman (Ed.), Encyclopedia of mental health (Vol. 2, pp. 571–581). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Petroutsou, A., Hassiotis, A. H., & Afia, A. (2018). Loneliness in people with intellectual and developmental disorders across the lifespan: A systematic review of prevalence and interventions. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities,31, 643–658. https://doi.org/10.1111/jar.12432.
Pober, B. (2010). Williams-Beuren syndrome. New England Journal of Medicine,362, 239–252. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMra0903074.
Raver, C. C. (2002). Emotions matter: Making the case for the role of children’s emotional adjustment for their early school readiness. Social Policy Report,16, 3–24. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2379-3988.2002.tb00041.x.
Riby, D. M., Hanley, M., Kirk, H., Clark, F., Little, K., Fleck, R., et al. (2014). The interplay between anxiety and social functioning in Williams syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,44, 1220–1229.
Ridings, C. M., & Gefen, D. (2004). Virtual community attraction: Why people hang out online. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2004.tb00229.x.
Rosner, B. A., Hodapp, R. M., Fidler, D. J., Sagun, J. N., & Dykens, E. M. (2004). Social competence in persons with Prader-Willi, Williams and Down's syndromes. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities,17, 209–217.
Searcy, Y. M., Lincoln, A., Rose, F., Klima, E., Bavar, N., & Korenberg, J. R. (2004). The relationship between age and IQ in adults with Williams syndrome. American Journal on Mental Retardation,109, 231–236.
Seltzer, M. M., & Li, L. W. (1996). The transitions of caregiving: Subjective and objective definitions. The Gerontologist,36, 614–626.
Sullivan, K., Winner, E., & Tager-Flusberg, H. (2003). Can adolescents with Williams syndrome tell the difference between lies and jokes? Developmental Neuropsychology,23, 85–103. https://doi.org/10.1080/87565641.2003.9651888.
Thurman, A. J., & Fisher, M. H. (2015). The Williams syndrome social phenotype: Disentangling the contributions of social interest and social difficulties. International Review of Research in Developmental Disabilities,49, 191–227. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.irrdd.2015.06.002.
Tipton, L. A., Christensen, L., & Blacher, J. (2013). Friendship quality in adolescents with and without intellectual disability. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities,26, 522–532. https://doi.org/10.1111/jar.12051.
Tomaino, M. E., Miltenberger, C. A., & Charlop, M. H. (2014). Social skills and play in children with autism. In J. Tarbox, D. R. Dixon, P. Sturmey, & J. L. Matson (Eds.), Handbook of early intervention for autism spectrum disorders: Research, policy, and practice. New York: Springer.
Travers, M., & Tincani, J. (2010). Sexuality education for individuals with autism spectrum disorders: Critical issues and decision-making guidelines. Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities,45(2), 284–293.
van der Fluit, F., Gaffrey, M., & Klein-Tasman, B. P. (2012). Social cognition in Williams syndrome: Relations between performance on the social attribution task and cognitive and behavioral characteristics. Frontiers in Developmental Psychology,3, 197. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.0019.
Webster, A. A., & Carter, M. (2007). Social relationships and friendships of children with developmental disabilities: A systematic review. Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability, 32(3), 200–213. https://doi.org/10.1080/13668250701549443.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
MHF conceived of and developed the study, collected the data, and drafted the manuscript. CKJ drafted the introduction and data analysis sections. CMS performed the statistical analyses and was involved in drafting the discussion. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
M.H. Fisher, C.K. Josol, and C.M. Shivers declares that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethical Approval
All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the University Institutional Review Board and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Informed Consent
The current study was determined exempt by the University Institutional Review Board. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study prior to completing the online questionnaire.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fisher, M.H., Josol, C.K. & Shivers, C.M. An Examination of Social Skills, Friendship Quality, and Loneliness for Adults with Williams Syndrome. J Autism Dev Disord 50, 3649–3660 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04416-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04416-4