Abstract
Maintaining an appropriate distance from others is important for establishing effective communication and good interpersonal relations. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder associated with social difficulties, and it is thus worth examining whether individuals with ASD maintain typical or atypical degrees of social distance. Any atypicality of social distancing may impact daily social interactions. We measured the preferred distances when individuals with ASD and typically developing (TD) individuals approached other people (a male experimenter) and objects (a coat rack with clothes) or when other people approached them. Individuals with ASD showed reduced interpersonal distances compared to TD individuals. The same tendency was found when participants judged their preferred distance from objects. In addition, when being approached by other people, both individuals with ASD and TD individuals maintained larger interpersonal distances when there was eye contact, compared to no eye contact. These results suggest that individuals with ASD have a relatively small personal space, and that this atypicality exists not only for persons but also for objects.
Highlights
Humans have their own preferred personal space, an “interpersonal distance”
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by difficulties with social interaction and communication [4]
The present study investigated the distances from i) other people and ii) objects, at which adolescents (ASD, typically developing (TD); 12 to 19 years) felt uncomfortable due to proximity
Summary
Humans have their own preferred personal space, an “interpersonal distance”. For example, on a train with several seats available, many individuals prefer to take a seat that is at some distance from other people. A small number of previous studies of adult-child interactions have assessed personal space in ASD, revealing that children with ASD showed shorter interpersonal distances than typically developing (TD) children and children with other intellectual disabilities [9,10]. These studies included only 2 to 6 children in each group. We explored the relationships between preferred interpersonal distance and clinical complaints, such as anxiety
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