Parental Insightfulness and Its Association With Social Competence in Autistic and Non-Autistic Children

Parental insightfulness (PI), the parent's capacity to reflect upon their own and their child's mental and emotional states, has been associated with various aspects of children's socio-emotional development. This study examined PI regarding child-peer interactions and its association with social competence in autistic and non-autistic (NA) children, aged 4-7 years. We hypothesized that parents of autistic and NA children would demonstrate different patterns of PI and that PI would moderate the association between autism diagnosis and social competence. Participants included 68 autistic children and their parents and 46 NA children and their parents. Parents watched videos of their child playing with a peer and completed the Insightfulness Assessment (IA) interview. They also reported on their child's social competence and their own parental reflective functioning. Results revealed that compared to NA children's parents, parents of autistic children showed similar levels of positive insightfulness about their child but had greater difficulties maintaining focus on their child's mental states, showed less acceptance, and more concern about the child. PI moderated the negative association between autism diagnosis and children's social competence so that in higher PI levels, the association was weaker than in lower PI levels. This study's findings suggest higher PI may mitigate social challenges for autistic children. Hence, PI and its nuances may be an intervention target for autistic children's parents with the aim of improving children's social outcomes.