Empathy Moderates the Association Between Social Disengagement and Emotion Problems in Autistic Youth

Social disengagement and empathizing difficulties are common in autism and have been linked to various socioemotional outcomes. Yet, their relationship remains understudied. This study addresses this gap by examining associations among different forms of social disengagement and empathy in autistic children and adolescents, as well as their interactive effects in predicting concurrent emotion problems. Parents of 689 autistic youth aged 5-17 years (M [SD] = 11.23 [3.56]; 76% male) completed questionnaires: the Child Social Preference Scale assessed shyness, unsociability, and social avoidance; the Children's Empathy Quotient measured cognitive and affective empathy; and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire assessed emotion problems. Results showed that all forms of social disengagement were associated with difficulties in both cognitive and affective empathy, with social avoidance showing the strongest associations. Furthermore, the interplay between different forms of social disengagement and empathy contributed to variability in emotion problems. Specifically, the links between unsociability and social avoidance and elevated emotion problems were stronger among youth with higher levels of empathy. In contrast, the positive association between shyness and emotion problems was not influenced by empathy. These findings underscore the importance of considering the multifaceted nature of social disengagement and its association with empathy, offering directions for future research.