Definition
Social motivation is defined as the intrinsically rewarding nature of interacting with other people.
Friendships are defined as reciprocal relationships between two people, characterized by communication over time and a degree of emotional closeness and trust.
We use “identify-first” language (“autistic person”) rather than person-first language (‘person with autism’), because it is the preferred term of autistic activists (Sinclair 1999) and many autistic people and their families (Kenny et al. 2016) and is less associated with stigma (Gernsbacher 2017).
Historical Background
Having stable reciprocal friendships is held to be a key indicator of a “good adult outcome” (Goldfarb et al. 1976). It is unsurprising, then, that many adolescents and adults diagnosed with autism – defined in part by “deficits in developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships” (American Psychiatric Association 2013) – rarely achieve such good outcomes, as defined in this way. Long-term...
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Sedgewick, F., Pellicano, E. (2020). Social Motivation and Friendship Experiences of Autistic Adolescents. In: Volkmar, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_102396-1
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