The authors of this article declare no conflict of interest.
The study was designed to verify which cognitive brain types and behaviors in classroom predicted the intention to volunteer to become a peer buddy for a student with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Five hundred and sixteen adolescents attending the first grade of public high schools were enrolled. Gender-related differences were discussed according to the empathizing-systemizing theory. As expected, empathy and prosocial behavior predicted volunteering in ASD intervention. We conclude that the selection of peers as intervention agents should require more informative sources. Clinical and research implications are discussed.
Este estudio se diseñó para verificar qué tipos de cerebro cognitivo y comportamientos en el aula predecían la intención de ofrecerse voluntario a acompañar a un alumno con trastorno del espectro autista (TEA). Se apuntaron 516 adolescentes de primer curso de enseñanza secundaria. Se abordaron las diferencias relativas al género de acuerdo a la teoría empatía-sistematización. Según lo esperado, la empatía y el comportamiento prosocial predecían la voluntariedad para intervenir en el TEA. Se concluye que la elección de compañeros como agentes de intervención necesitaría de más fuentes de información. Se comentan las implicaciones clínicas y de investigación.
In recent years, peer-mediated intervention (PMI) has demonstrated to be one of the best evidence-based practices in enhancing social responses and communication abilities in children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) (
Considered a specific feature of PMI, the peer buddy is interested in providing support, understands the requirements of the classroom, and helps a student with disabilities, trying to bring him/her into his or her circle of friends. Thus, peer buddy approach constitutes an efficacious classroom arrangement in building friendships and relationships for students with disabilities, allowing them to develop a more positive outlook on their life (
Thanks to the social benefits that the peer buddy approach offers, a growing attention is directed to identify which characteristics have to hold a peer to become a buddy. Several studies have focused on different components of social cognition and its related behaviors, highlighting how the theory of mind (
However, empathy - a specific component of social cognition that refers to the ability to correctly identify and appropriately respond to someone else’s mental state (
Another aim of the present study was to verify which emotional and behavioral variables predicted volunteering in ASD intervention. To do this, prosocial conduct and behavioral problems (e.g., hyperactivity, difficulties with peers, emotional problems) shown by each student were assessed. In line with what has already been found by past research (for meta-analytic review, see
The sample consisted of 516 adolescents (321 boys and 195 girls, M age = 14.69, SD = 1.09), attending the first grade of public high schools in the center of Italy (Lazio).
Recruitment began by contacting the schools at the beginning of the first semester with letters that described the purpose of the study. The schools were selected on the basis of their willingness to participate in the study as part of a project for peer-mediated intervention in supporting adolescents with ASD in regular education settings. To participate in the study, the schools were required to have classrooms with students with ASD, assessed and certified by experienced clinicians, following the ICD-10 criteria (
The application consisted of the students completing the questionnaire quietly in a classroom at school, after informed consent was acquired from both students and their parents. The questionnaires were administered in the classroom by a team of interviewers who were trained as advanced PhD students in Psychology.
The whole research project was coordinated by the first author. This survey was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Commission of the Department of Developmental and Social Psychology of Sapienza, University of Rome.
The Empathy and Systemizing Quotient. The Italian adaptation of the Empathy and Systemizing Quotient was provided by courtesy of the Autism Research Centre (ARC, Autism Research Center Cambridge, United Kingdom). The Empathy Quotient (EQ;
Intention to volunteer. This measure consisted of 1 item, and asked participants to provide their contact information if they were interested in ‘‘learning what they thought about the possibility to help a peer with ASD in their classroom’’. Those who provided contact information were scored as having positive ‘intention to volunteer’. According to
Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). The Italian version of SDQ 11-17 (
Preliminary analyses were carried out for univariate outliers. The chi-square test was used to verify gender differences among the cognitive brain type groups. Because previous investigations have found gender-related differences on socio-cognitive dimensions (
Logistic regression was carried out, using empathy and systemizing quotient, and emotional and behavior characteristics as predictors, and the intention to act as a peer buddy as dependent variable. All statistical analyses were performed with SPSS 23 for Windows.
Using the method suggested by
Two hundred and eighty-two students (54.7% of the sample, 119 females and 163 males) reported the intention to become a peer model for adolescents with ASD. Significant differences were found for gender, 2(1) = 5.14, p < .001, where females were more likely to be a volunteer than males (61% of females vs. 50.8 % of males). A chi-square analysis of intention to volunteer and cognitive brain type groups revealed significant differences, 2(2) = 26.02, p < .001. Adolescents classified as Type E were more likely to be a volunteer (74.8%) than adolescents classified as B (53.6%) and S (43.7%) type.
MANOVA revealed gender differences in the dependent variables, an effect of intention to act as peer buddy, and an effect of cognitive brain types. There was no effect of interaction between variables. Results from the univariate tests (ANOVA) revealed that: a) females obtained higher scores than males on Emotional Problems and Prosocial subscales, and b) adolescents who were more likely to volunteer differed only on the Prosocial subscale, obtaining higher scores than adolescents who did not express the willingness to become peer buddy, as depicted in
ANOVA and post-hoc (Tukey’s test, p < .05) revealed that the cognitive brain type groups differed on the Hyperactivity subscale, where E and B type groups, that did not differ from each other, obtained lower scores than the S type group; for Conduct problems, the S group obtained higher scores than B, and this group obtained higher scores than the E group; for Peer Problems, adolescents classified as S group obtained higher scores than E and B type groups, that did not differ; for the Prosocial subscale, the E group obtained higher scores than B and S groups that did not differ, as reported in
This analysis was conducted to examine what predicted the intention to act as peer buddy for all students. The model was statistically significant, indicating that predictors distinguished between positive and negative intent, and accounted for 20% of the variance, 2(8) = 83.04, p < .001, Nagelkerke’s R2 = .20. Overall prediction success was 65.9%, with 73.4% for positive intent and 56.8% for negative intent. The Wald Criterion indicated that the Empathy Quotient and the Prosocial Behavior made significant contributions to the model, as reported in
The results of this study mirror the empathizing-systemizing (E-S) theory of psychological gender differences, revealing that female students were stronger empathizers than their male counterparts, who were stronger systemizers. As argued by
It is easy to understand that the systemizing trend cannot be applied to other people’s emotional states and behaviors. The complexity of individuals’ emotional life and different contexts in which people act cannot be parameterized formally in an input-output function as in a deterministic system (
The main aim of the present study was to identify which socio-cognitive, behavioral, and emotional variables predicted volunteering in ASD intervention. As hypothesized, the trend at recognizing others’ emotions feelings and appropriately responding, was a significant and positive predictor of the willingness to become a peer buddy. Likewise, to empathy, the engagement in prosocial conduct also predicted the intention to be a volunteer to help a classmate with ASD. Such findings coherently insert into research on social cognition, which has found prosocial behavior - a superordinate category that includes acts as helping, sharing, cooperating, and comforting - and empathy are strongly related to each other (
Emotional and behavioral problems did not affect the intention to volunteer. Students who have decided to become peer buddies did not differ from students who have expressed a negative intention, namely non-volunteers, in mean scores on hyperactivity, conduct, emotional, and peer problem subscales. The only difference was in the prosocial scale, with volunteers scoring higher than non-volunteers. This issue induces us to ask how students with emotional and behavioral problems, although they engage in prosocial behavior more frequently, may constitute an efficient social model to improve social and communicative skills in classmates with ASD. Likewise, when teachers have to select peer buddies, they prefer students who have a regular attendance, appropriate social skills, and are high in social status to get involved in PMI (
Furthermore, although in our study female students outperformed male students in prosocial behavior and empathy scales, no gender-related differences were found in the prediction of volunteers. This means that both boys and girls want to be involved in PMI as volunteers. However, when peer buddies are selected by teachers, males are more frequently judged as inappropriate than females (
This study presents some limits that need to be mentioned. First, we used a single item to investigate the intent to volunteer. As argued above, it is extremely important to investigate which reasons are behind the intention to volunteer to become a peer buddy. Second, we are not able to claim whether the specific profiles of volunteers translate into a better implementation of PMI or, most importantly, if they are related to the outcomes for students with ASD. The limit of the present study may constitute the challenge for future research.
Special thanks to the adolescents who were involved in this study and to the Principals and the teachers of the high schools in Rome where participants were recruited. The authors also thank Dr. Silvia Fratini, Dr. Antonella Usai, Dr. Daria Teresa Russo, Dr. Mariallegra Mancusi, Dr. Valentina Tonchei, and Dr. Annamaria Orsi for their invaluable assistance, providing various research supports for peer buddies’ recruitment.