Testing the Social Motivation Theory of Autism: The Role of Co-occurring Anxiety

Eloise Bagg; Hannah Pickard; Manting Tan; Tim J. Smith; Emily Simonoff; Andrew Pickles; Virginia Carter Leno; Rachael Bedford

doi:10.1111/jcpp.13925

Testing the Social Motivation Theory of Autism: The Role of Co-occurring Anxiety

Eloise Bagg, Hannah Pickard, Manting Tan, Tim J. Smith, Emily Simonoff, Andrew Pickles, Virginia Carter Leno, Rachael Bedford

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

5 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

Background: The Social Motivation Theory proposes that social reward processing differences underlie autism. However, low social motivation has also been linked to higher anxiety. Given the co-occurrence between autism and anxiety, it is possible that anxiety drives the association between social motivation and autistic characteristics. This study tests the mechanisms underlying the association between social motivation and autistic traits. Methods: Participants were 165 adolescents (71 male), aged 10–16 years, from the Mapping profiles of cognition, motivation and attention in childhood (C-MAPS) study, enriched for autistic traits (70 participants with an autism diagnosis, 37 male). Participants completed a battery of online experimental tasks, including a Choose-a-Movie social motivation task and social cognition measures (theory of mind; emotion recognition), alongside parent-reported child anxiety and autistic traits. Results: Higher social motivation was significantly associated with lower autistic traits (β = −.26, p <.001). Controlling for social cognition did not change the association between social motivation and autistic traits. Controlling for anxiety did significantly reduce the strength of the association (unstandardized coefficient change: p =.003), although social motivation remained associated with autistic traits (β = −.16, p =.004). Post hoc analyses demonstrated differential sex-effects: The association between social motivation and autistic traits was significant only in the females (β = −.38, p <.001), as was the attenuation by anxiety (unstandardized coefficient change: p <.001). Conclusions: The association between social motivation and autistic traits could be partially attributed to co-occurring anxiety. Sex-specific effects found in females may be due to environmental factors such as increased social demands in adolescent female relationships. Results are consistent with self-report by autistic individuals who do not identify as having reduced social motivation.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	899-909
Number of pages	11
Journal	Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
Volume	65
Issue number	7
Early online date	29 Dec 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13925
Publication status	Published - 31 Jul 2024

Data Availability Statement

Fully anonymised data will be made available on request to the corresponding author.

Funding

R.B. was supported by a King's Prize Fellowship (204823/Z/16/Z); V.C.L. by a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship (213608/Z/18/Z); and E.S. and A.P. by the National Institute of Health Research (NF‐SI‐0514‐10073, NF‐SI‐0617‐10120) and Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the UK NHS, NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. The remaining authors have declared that they have no competing or potential conflicts of interest.

Funders	Funder number
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
National Institute for Health and Care Research	NF‐SI‐0514‐10073, NF‐SI‐0617‐10120
King's College London	204823/Z/16/Z, 213608/Z/18/Z

Keywords

Social motivation
adolescence
autism
emotion recognition
social cognition
theory of mind

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Psychiatry and Mental health
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1111/jcpp.13925Licence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{a5440e06041649bf97c77efd8b9c21d0,

title = "Testing the Social Motivation Theory of Autism: The Role of Co-occurring Anxiety",

abstract = "Background: The Social Motivation Theory proposes that social reward processing differences underlie autism. However, low social motivation has also been linked to higher anxiety. Given the co-occurrence between autism and anxiety, it is possible that anxiety drives the association between social motivation and autistic characteristics. This study tests the mechanisms underlying the association between social motivation and autistic traits. Methods: Participants were 165 adolescents (71 male), aged 10–16 years, from the Mapping profiles of cognition, motivation and attention in childhood (C-MAPS) study, enriched for autistic traits (70 participants with an autism diagnosis, 37 male). Participants completed a battery of online experimental tasks, including a Choose-a-Movie social motivation task and social cognition measures (theory of mind; emotion recognition), alongside parent-reported child anxiety and autistic traits. Results: Higher social motivation was significantly associated with lower autistic traits (β = −.26, p <.001). Controlling for social cognition did not change the association between social motivation and autistic traits. Controlling for anxiety did significantly reduce the strength of the association (unstandardized coefficient change: p =.003), although social motivation remained associated with autistic traits (β = −.16, p =.004). Post hoc analyses demonstrated differential sex-effects: The association between social motivation and autistic traits was significant only in the females (β = −.38, p <.001), as was the attenuation by anxiety (unstandardized coefficient change: p <.001). Conclusions: The association between social motivation and autistic traits could be partially attributed to co-occurring anxiety. Sex-specific effects found in females may be due to environmental factors such as increased social demands in adolescent female relationships. Results are consistent with self-report by autistic individuals who do not identify as having reduced social motivation.",

keywords = "Social motivation, adolescence, autism, emotion recognition, social cognition, theory of mind",

author = "Eloise Bagg and Hannah Pickard and Manting Tan and Smith, {Tim J.} and Emily Simonoff and Andrew Pickles and {Carter Leno}, Virginia and Rachael Bedford",

year = "2024",

month = jul,

day = "31",

doi = "10.1111/jcpp.13925",

language = "English",

volume = "65",

pages = "899--909",

journal = "Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry",

issn = "0021-9630",

publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd",

number = "7",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Testing the Social Motivation Theory of Autism

T2 - The Role of Co-occurring Anxiety

AU - Bagg, Eloise

AU - Pickard, Hannah

AU - Tan, Manting

AU - Smith, Tim J.

AU - Simonoff, Emily

AU - Pickles, Andrew

AU - Carter Leno, Virginia

AU - Bedford, Rachael

PY - 2024/7/31

Y1 - 2024/7/31

N2 - Background: The Social Motivation Theory proposes that social reward processing differences underlie autism. However, low social motivation has also been linked to higher anxiety. Given the co-occurrence between autism and anxiety, it is possible that anxiety drives the association between social motivation and autistic characteristics. This study tests the mechanisms underlying the association between social motivation and autistic traits. Methods: Participants were 165 adolescents (71 male), aged 10–16 years, from the Mapping profiles of cognition, motivation and attention in childhood (C-MAPS) study, enriched for autistic traits (70 participants with an autism diagnosis, 37 male). Participants completed a battery of online experimental tasks, including a Choose-a-Movie social motivation task and social cognition measures (theory of mind; emotion recognition), alongside parent-reported child anxiety and autistic traits. Results: Higher social motivation was significantly associated with lower autistic traits (β = −.26, p <.001). Controlling for social cognition did not change the association between social motivation and autistic traits. Controlling for anxiety did significantly reduce the strength of the association (unstandardized coefficient change: p =.003), although social motivation remained associated with autistic traits (β = −.16, p =.004). Post hoc analyses demonstrated differential sex-effects: The association between social motivation and autistic traits was significant only in the females (β = −.38, p <.001), as was the attenuation by anxiety (unstandardized coefficient change: p <.001). Conclusions: The association between social motivation and autistic traits could be partially attributed to co-occurring anxiety. Sex-specific effects found in females may be due to environmental factors such as increased social demands in adolescent female relationships. Results are consistent with self-report by autistic individuals who do not identify as having reduced social motivation.

AB - Background: The Social Motivation Theory proposes that social reward processing differences underlie autism. However, low social motivation has also been linked to higher anxiety. Given the co-occurrence between autism and anxiety, it is possible that anxiety drives the association between social motivation and autistic characteristics. This study tests the mechanisms underlying the association between social motivation and autistic traits. Methods: Participants were 165 adolescents (71 male), aged 10–16 years, from the Mapping profiles of cognition, motivation and attention in childhood (C-MAPS) study, enriched for autistic traits (70 participants with an autism diagnosis, 37 male). Participants completed a battery of online experimental tasks, including a Choose-a-Movie social motivation task and social cognition measures (theory of mind; emotion recognition), alongside parent-reported child anxiety and autistic traits. Results: Higher social motivation was significantly associated with lower autistic traits (β = −.26, p <.001). Controlling for social cognition did not change the association between social motivation and autistic traits. Controlling for anxiety did significantly reduce the strength of the association (unstandardized coefficient change: p =.003), although social motivation remained associated with autistic traits (β = −.16, p =.004). Post hoc analyses demonstrated differential sex-effects: The association between social motivation and autistic traits was significant only in the females (β = −.38, p <.001), as was the attenuation by anxiety (unstandardized coefficient change: p <.001). Conclusions: The association between social motivation and autistic traits could be partially attributed to co-occurring anxiety. Sex-specific effects found in females may be due to environmental factors such as increased social demands in adolescent female relationships. Results are consistent with self-report by autistic individuals who do not identify as having reduced social motivation.

KW - Social motivation

KW - adolescence

KW - autism

KW - emotion recognition

KW - social cognition

KW - theory of mind

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85180910897&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/jcpp.13925

DO - 10.1111/jcpp.13925

M3 - Article

SN - 0021-9630

VL - 65

SP - 899

EP - 909

JO - Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry

JF - Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry

IS - 7

ER -

Testing the Social Motivation Theory of Autism: The Role of Co-occurring Anxiety

Abstract

Data Availability Statement

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this