The salience of the self: Self-referential processing and internalizing problems in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder.
Catherine A Burrows, Lauren V Usher, Peter C Mundy and 1 others
PMID 27868365WHAT IT FOUND
Youth with autism showed reduced self-positivity and weaker memory for self-relevant information.
However, positive self-views protected against anxiety and depression in all children, but only if they had strong memory for self-relevant details.
Key findings
01Youth with ASD had a significantly lower self-positivity bias than the comparison group, but similar other-positivity biases.
02Youth with ASD showed reduced preferential self-referenced memory compared to the comparison group, and this memory deficit was not specific to positive or negative adjectives.
03Higher self-positivity was associated with fewer internalizing problems, but this protective effect was only significant in individuals with high self-referenced memory.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot determine if negative self-views cause internalizing problems or if internalizing problems lead to negative self-views. Memory performance varied with age in the ASD group, suggesting that the relationship between self-referenced processing and internalizing problems might change as children grow older. There was significant variability in memory performance within the ASD group, meaning some individuals with ASD had typical self-referenced memory while others had substantial deficits.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that self-esteem interventions will work for all children with ASD. The study found that positive self-views only protected against anxiety and depression in children who had strong memory for self-relevant information. Children with weak self-referenced memory may not benefit from standard self-esteem approaches.