Effects of Neurotype and Neurotype Matching on Conversational Rapport and Masking

The double empathy problem (DEP) suggests that autistic adults (AAs) have stronger rapport with other AAs than nonautistic adults (NAs). Alternatively, medicalized conceptualizations of autism suggest that autistic people have inherent deficits in social communication that adversely impact all rapport. Prior investigations into the DEP have paid limited attention to how masking impacts these interactions. This study investigates how neurotype and neurotype matching impact rapport and masking in conversational dyads.

Twenty AAs and 20 NAs were recruited to participate in this study. Using a within-subject group design, participants engaged in semistructured conversations with same-neurotype and mixed-neurotype partners. Participants did not know their partner's neurotype. They rated their own masking and rapport during each conversation.

Regardless of partner neurotype, AAs reported lower rapport and higher masking than NAs. All participants generally rated conversational rapport as high. However, a participant's rapport rating only correlated with their partner's rapport in same-neurotype dyads. In same- and mixed-neurotype dyads, AAs' masking was inversely correlated with their partner's rapport.

Results are inconsistent with the deficit-based model and somewhat inconsistent with the DEP. AAs' masking may have disrupted the predicted rapport effects in same-neurotype dyads. To test this masking disruption hypothesis, further research is needed into how AAs build rapport that considers both masking and the impact of neurotype disclosure. Clinicians might also consider these nuanced impacts of masking in social communication.