Quantifying Social Skill Deficits and Strengths Profiles in Autistic Youth

While social difficulties in autism are well-established, questions remain regarding whether these represent challenges in "acquiring" or "performing" such skills, reduced social strengths, or a unique distribution across these domains (i.e., social profile). This study empirically derived social profiles of 211 autistic and non-autistic youth (M[subscript age] = 13.50; Autistic N = 150; Male N = 151; 85.3% White). Assessments occurred between 2016 and 2020. Results showed that autistic youth exhibit significantly more social acquisition and performance deficits and fewer strengths than nonautistic youth (ds = -0.44 to 0.65). Performance deficits were most--and acquisition deficits least--prominent within autistic profiles, potentially implicating longstanding theoretical models of social difficulties in autism, and supporting new, idiographic approaches for conceptualizing, assessing, and treating social challenges.