Proneness to guilt, shame, and pride in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and neurotypical children
- PMID: 29437299
- DOI: 10.1002/aur.1937
Proneness to guilt, shame, and pride in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and neurotypical children
Abstract
Self-conscious emotions (e.g., guilt, shame, and pride) are complex emotions that require self-reflection and self-evaluation, and are thought to facilitate the maintenance of societal norms and personal standards. Despite the importance of self-conscious emotions, most research has focused on basic emotion processing in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Therefore, in the present study, we used the Test of Self-Conscious Affect for Children (TOSCA-C) to assess proneness to, or propensity to experience, the self-conscious emotions guilt, shame, and pride in children with ASD and neurotypical children. The TOSCA-C is designed to capture a child's natural tendency to experience a given emotion across a range of everyday situations [Tangney, Stuewig, & Mashek, 2007]. We also assessed how individual characteristics contribute to the development of proneness to self-conscious emotions, including theory of mind (ToM) and ASD symptomatology. In comparison to neurotypical children, children with ASD showed less proneness to guilt, although all children showed relatively high levels of proneness to guilt. Greater ToM ability was related to more proneness to guilt and authentic pride in children with ASD. Additionally, we found that children with ASD with more severe symptomatology were more prone to hubristic pride. Our results provide evidence of differences in proneness to self-conscious emotions in children with ASD, as well as highlight important mechanisms contributing to how children with ASD may experience self-conscious emotions. Autism Res 2018,11:883-892. ©2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Lay summary: This research examined proneness to guilt, shame, and pride in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and neurotypical children. We found that children with ASD showed less proneness to guilt than neurotypical children. Better understanding of theory of mind was related to greater proneness to guilt and pride, but only for children with ASD. These findings are important because these complex emotions are linked with both positive and negative social behaviors towards others and oneself.
Keywords: autism; guilt; pride; self-conscious emotions; shame; symptom severity; theory of mind.
© 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Similar articles
-
Recognition of Emotions from Situational Contexts and the Impact of a Mind Reading Intervention in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2022 Jun;53(3):418-429. doi: 10.1007/s10578-021-01139-0. Epub 2021 Feb 18. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2022. PMID: 33599886
-
Proneness to Self-Conscious Emotions in Adults With and Without Autism Traits.J Autism Dev Disord. 2017 Nov;47(11):3392-3404. doi: 10.1007/s10803-017-3260-8. J Autism Dev Disord. 2017. PMID: 28755034
-
Narcissism: its function in modulating self-conscious emotions.Bull Menninger Clin. 2012 Summer;76(3):211-34. doi: 10.1521/bumc.2012.76.3.211. Bull Menninger Clin. 2012. PMID: 22988899 Review.
-
Weight-related actual and ideal self-states, discrepancies, and shame, guilt, and pride: examining associations within the process model of self-conscious emotions.Body Image. 2012 Sep;9(4):488-94. doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2012.07.003. Epub 2012 Aug 21. Body Image. 2012. PMID: 22921162
-
Small or big in the eyes of the other: on the developmental psychopathology of self-conscious emotions as shame, guilt, and pride.Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev. 2014 Mar;17(1):19-40. doi: 10.1007/s10567-013-0137-z. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev. 2014. PMID: 23712881 Review.
Cited by
-
Increased risk of acute stress disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: a nation-wide cohort study in Taiwan.Front Psychiatry. 2024 Jan 31;15:1329836. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1329836. eCollection 2024. Front Psychiatry. 2024. PMID: 38356908 Free PMC article.
-
Compassion-focused therapy with autistic adults.Front Psychol. 2023 Oct 26;14:1267968. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1267968. eCollection 2023. Front Psychol. 2023. PMID: 37965655 Free PMC article.
-
Successful emotion regulation via cognitive reappraisal in authentic pride: Behavioral and event-related potential evidence.Front Hum Neurosci. 2022 Oct 13;16:983674. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.983674. eCollection 2022. Front Hum Neurosci. 2022. PMID: 36310848 Free PMC article.
-
Social Anxiety and Shame Among Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder Compared to Typical Adults.J Autism Dev Disord. 2023 Jun;53(6):2490-2498. doi: 10.1007/s10803-022-05526-x. Epub 2022 Apr 8. J Autism Dev Disord. 2023. PMID: 35394242
-
Recognition of Emotions from Situational Contexts and the Impact of a Mind Reading Intervention in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2022 Jun;53(3):418-429. doi: 10.1007/s10578-021-01139-0. Epub 2021 Feb 18. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2022. PMID: 33599886
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Other Literature Sources
Medical