The Roles of Empathy, Prosocial Tendencies, and Relationship Proximity in Non-Autistic College Students' Attitudes Toward and Willingness to Interact with Autistic Peers

Difficulties with social communication and interaction, characteristic of autism, contribute to autistic students’ difficulties adjusting to postsecondary education environments. Previous research examining factors related to non-autistic individuals that may influence perceptions of and interactions with autistic peers in postsecondary education environments has primarily focused on extrinsic factors or factors still involving autistic individuals themselves (e.g., having a previous relationship with an autistic individual). Therefore, the present study aimed to address a gap in the literature by examining the roles of empathy and prosocial tendencies in non-autistic college students’ attitudes toward and willingness to interact with an autistic peer. More specifically, the present study hypothesized that prosocial tendencies would mediate the direct effects of empathy on attitudes toward and willingness to interact with an autistic peer, and further, that relationship proximity would moderate the direct and indirect effects of empathy on both outcomes. Results found empathy to positively predict prosocial tendencies and attitudes toward an autistic peer. Prosocial tendencies also predicted willingness to interact with an autistic peer and mediated the relation between empathy and willingness to interact with an autistic peer. Interestingly, neither relationship proximity nor quality of previous interaction moderated the direct or indirect effects of empathy on either outcome; however, both relationship proximity and quality of previous interaction moderated the direct effect of prosocial tendencies on attitudes toward an autistic individual, suggesting distant relationship proximity and poor quality of previous interaction are risk factors for more negative attitudes toward an autistic peer.