Assessing the effects of satisfaction with friendships and autistic-like traits on psychological well-being

McKenzie, Karen, Warner, Jack and Murray, Kara (2022) Assessing the effects of satisfaction with friendships and autistic-like traits on psychological well-being. Mental Health Practice, 25 (4). pp. 35-41. ISSN 1465-8720

[img]
Preview
Text
Friendship_ALT_wellbeing_author_copy_070222.pdf - Accepted Version

Download (242kB) | Preview
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.7748/mhp.2022.e1609

Abstract

Background Friendships are important for people’s mental health, while being able to recognise other people’s emotions assists in developing and maintaining friendships. Certain groups, including people with autism, tend to find emotion recognition and the development of satisfying friendships challenging. There is little research into emotion recognition, quality of friendships and psychological well-being in people with autistic-like traits.

Aim To explore the relationships between autistic-like traits, emotion recognition, friendship satisfaction and psychological well-being with the aim of informing mental health interventions.

Method Seventy-eight people completed assessment tools measuring autistic-like traits, emotion recognition ability, friendship quality, satisfaction with the quality of friendships and psychological well-being. Correlations between variables were calculated and a multiple regression analysis was conducted to determine predictors of psychological well-being.

Results Respondents with lower emotion recognition ability were less satisfied with the quality of their friendships than those with higher emotion recognition ability. Respondents’ psychological well-being decreased in parallel with decreased satisfaction with the quality of friendships and increased levels of autistic-like traits.

Conclusion Mental health interventions that enhance people’s ability to recognise other people’s emotions and develop satisfying friendships may have a positive influence on psychological well-being, particularly in people with high levels of autistic-like traits. Further research is required to confirm this.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: autism, learning disability, mental health, mental health service users, mental health therapies, patients, patient assessment, professional, psychological interventions, psychosocial interventions
Subjects: C800 Psychology
Department: Faculties > Health and Life Sciences > Psychology
Depositing User: John Coen
Date Deposited: 08 Feb 2022 15:06
Last Modified: 20 Jan 2023 12:00
URI: https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/48409

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics