Parent-Adolescent Reciprocity in a Conflictual Situation Predicts Peer Interaction in Adolescents with ASD

Background: The development of conflict management skills throughout childhood and adolescence has been shown to impact the individual’s social adjustment. Parent-child reciprocity plays a significant role in shaping children’s social interaction skills. The increase in conflictual interaction with one’s parents during adolescence affects the transformation of parent-adolescent interaction into a more mutual, equal relationship. Adolescents with ASD and their parents may struggle in this type of interaction due to the adolescents’ social and regulatory impairments, in addition to their dependence on their parents’ involvement and guidance.

Objectives: The current study aimed to evaluate differences in the way adolescents with and without ASD interact with their parents in a conflictual situation. In addition, the association between parent-adolescent reciprocity and the adolescent’s social interaction with an unfamiliar peer was examined in the ASD group.

Methods: Thirty adolescents (2 females), aged 12-17, clinically diagnosed with ASD (ADOS-2 validated) without comorbid intellectual impairment (IQ>70), and their parents (27 mothers) were compared to 30 typically developing adolescents, with no reported neurodevelopmental, psychiatric, or intellectual disability, and their parents. Groups were matched on adolescents’ age and gender, as well as on parents’ gender and education level. Parental (sensitivity, intrusiveness), adolescent's (involvement, withdrawal), and dyadic (reciprocity, negative states) factors were coded using the Coding of Interactive Behavior system (CIB, Feldman, 1998) . In addition, adolescents with ASD took part in a conversation with an unfamiliar peer, based on the Contextual Assessment for Social Skills (CASS, Ratto et al., 2011). Interactions were videotaped and coded by trained raters, (inter-rater reliability >.90 for CIB and >.86 for CASS).

Results: Findings indicate that during the conflictual interaction, compared to TD controls, adolescents with ASD were more involved in the conversation (F[1,57]=4.41 p<.05, η²=.13) and less withdrawn (F[1,57]=5.43, p<.01, η²=.16) from the parent, while their parents were more sensitive (F[1,57]=5.33 p<.01, η²=.16) and less intrusive (F[1,57]=5.13p<.01, η²=.15) towards them. However, dyadic reciprocity (F[1,57]=5.27 p<.01, η²=.16) was poorer in the ASD group, compared to the TD group.

A regression analysis within the ASD group, predicting CASS scores was significant (R²=0.52, F[4,25]=6.69, p<.001) revealing that parent-adolescent reciprocity in the ASD group was positively associated with the adolescents’ social-conversational skills with a peer (β=0.36, p<.05).

Conclusions: These findings emphasize the different developmental trajectories parent-adolescent relationship take in adolescents with ASD, compared to their TD peers. Our findings suggest that a parent to an adolescent with ASD reacts to his child’s deficits when handling an argument with greater encouragement and reduced strain. The adolescent with ASD on his part, responds positively to the parent’s support and enhances his own involvement in the conflictual situation. Although both parties were highly involved, the ASD dyad struggled to interact fluently, which could be related to a lack of synchrony. These results also suggest that the relationship individuals with ASD have with their parents continue to promote their social functioning during adolescence.