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Violations of Personal Space in Young People with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Williams Syndrome: Insights from the Social Responsiveness Scale

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Abstract

Interpersonal distance regulation is crucial for successful social interactions. We investigated personal space awareness in Williams syndrome (WS) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared to typical development. Parents reported that individuals with WS and ASD were significantly more likely than those developing typically to invade the personal space of others. WS individuals were reported to have the least awareness of the personal space boundaries of others. Despite the suggested opposing social profiles of WS and ASD, some similarities are present in the ability, or indeed inability, to regulate interpersonal distance during social interactions. Findings are discussed in relation to implications of atypical amygdala function, inhibitory control and anxiety on real-world behaviour for such socially vulnerable groups.

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Notes

  1. It is important to note that none of the participants in the current study had featured in Kennedy and Adolphs (2014).

Abbreviations

SRS:

Social Responsiveness Scale

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the support of Marianne Hvistendahl Allday towards data collection for part of the WS sample and Sarah Wigham, Laura Grey and Christina Boulter for their assistance with the collection of the data for the UK ASD sample. We acknowledge the advice of Professor Kim Cornish and the help of Dr. Darren Hocking and the support of the Williams syndrome Family Support Group Australia, the Williams syndrome Foundation UK and the Williams syndrome Association of Ireland.

Author Contributions

EL conceived of the study, participated in the design and coordination of the data, performed the measurement, performed the statistical analyses, interpreted the data and drafted the manuscript; MH, JR, MS, HK performed the measurement and critically revised the manuscript; DK conceived of the study, participated in the design of the study and critically revised the manuscript; DR conceived of the study, participated in the design and coordination of the study, performed the measurement, interpreted the data and drafted the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Durham University, Science Laboratories, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK

    Emma Lough, Mary Hanley & Deborah M. Riby

  2. Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK

    Jacqui Rodgers

  3. Neuroscience Centre, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA

    Mikle South

  4. School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Hannah Kirk

  5. Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA

    Daniel P. Kennedy

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  1. Emma Lough
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  2. Mary Hanley
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  3. Jacqui Rodgers
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  4. Mikle South
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  5. Hannah Kirk
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  6. Daniel P. Kennedy
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  7. Deborah M. Riby
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Correspondence to Deborah M. Riby.

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Lough, E., Hanley, M., Rodgers, J. et al. Violations of Personal Space in Young People with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Williams Syndrome: Insights from the Social Responsiveness Scale. J Autism Dev Disord 45, 4101–4108 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-015-2536-0

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