The link between social participation and psychosocial functioning in autistic pupils; exploring the influence of individual, family, and school factors

Abstract

Participating in social activities provides children valuable learning opportunities to develop their psychosocial functioning. However, many autistic children only have limited access to social participation. This study endeavored to increase our understanding on the link between social participation and psychosocial functioning among autistic pupils. In addition, it was examined whether the relation between social participation and psychosocial functioning would differ depending on children’s gender, perceived self-efficacy of parents and the social climate at school. Data of autistic pupils (N=200, age: 4-16) were collected in 2020 through the online platform Dutch Autism Register. Parents filled in a group of questionnaires to report on the issues investigated in this study. Lower levels of social participation were associated with more psychosocial problems in autistic pupils, regardless of the gender. The relation between social participation and psychosocial well-being was moderated by parent self-efficacy, i.e., the negative influence of poor social participation to psychosocial functioning was intercepted by greater levels of parent efficacy. While the traditional view of autism thinks that autistic children do not want to or need to participate in social activities, our findings showed that social participation was important for autistic children’s psychosocial well-being. This relation existed in both autistic boys and girls. However, when parents perceive higher level of self-efficacy, the link between social participation and psychosocial functioning in autistic children were weaker, suggesting that the important role of parents’ confidence and their ability to provide support for their autistic child in buffering the negative impact of limited access to social participation on autistic children’s psychosocial functioning. Our findings highlight the importance of increasing inclusiveness at school and promoting social participation among autistic pupils.