(PS4-79) Understanding Non-autistic College Student’s Perception of Autism Through an Analysis of Word Associations

Understanding non-autistic individuals' perceptions of autism is necessary for decreasing stigma surrounding autistic individuals. Autistic students on college campuses often face social barriers which can lead to feelings of loneliness, anxiety, and depression (Jackson et al., 2018). Research has shown that higher autism knowledge and increased contact with autistic individuals predicts attitudes toward autistic peers across different levels of education (Aubé et al., 2021; Shand et al., 2020). Improving our understanding of how non-autistic college students perceive their autistic peers might inform future efforts to foster a more inclusive campus environment. 

A sample of 313 undergraduate students with an average age of 18.98 years (SD=1.249), at a mid-Atlantic university participated. Our sample was 63.3% female (n=198), 34.8% male (n=109), 1.3% non-binary (n=4), and .3% other (n=1). Participants completed a survey measuring autism knowledge, personal connections to autism. Knowledge was measured by the Autism Stigma and Knowledge Questionnaire (Harrison et al., 2017; ASK-Q) and personal connections to autism were measured by asking participants to report how many autistic individuals they know. Perception of autism was measured by asking participants to provide three adjectives they associate with autism. Two independent coders rated the words on a likert scale from 1-5, with 1 representing “very negative” to 5 representing “very positive”. Raters had a percent agreement of 82.4%. Perception score was determined by averaging each participants’ ratings of the three adjectives. We hypothesized that autism knowledge scores and personal connection would be positively correlated with perception scores.

Using an NVivo frequency analysis, the most common adjectives endorsed by participants were “smart” (N=76), “awkward” (N=28), and “sensitive” (N=27). The average perception score for participants was 2.74 (SD=.75). A Pearson’s correlation coefficient was conducted to examine the relationship between the number of autistic individuals known by participants and their perception score. Results yielded a small, positive correlation between the two variables, r(311)=.122, p=.032, with a higher exposure to autistic individuals associated with higher perception scores. There was no significant correlation between perception scores and participants’ autism knowledge, r(311)=.022, p=.698. 

Overall, more positive perceptions of autism were shown to be related to the number of autistic individuals a person knows rather than an individual’s knowledge of autism facts. This study included a novel, yet laborious approach to examining college students’ perception of autism that needs additional research to determine its utility as a measure of attitudes and/or stigma. These findings extend previous research (Nevill & White, 2011; Gardner & Iarocci, 2014) indicating that having personal connections with autistic peers is important for increasing positive perception among non-autistic college students. This has clear implications for programs addressing stigma that focus primarily on providing information concerning autism.