Academic Journal
A Large-Scale Study on the Relation Between Multilingualism and Social Traits in Adults With and Without Autism Diagnoses.
| Τίτλος: | A Large-Scale Study on the Relation Between Multilingualism and Social Traits in Adults With and Without Autism Diagnoses. |
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| Συγγραφείς: | Vogelzang M; School of Psychology, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.; Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK., Gan SDW; School of Psychology, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK., Setch J; School of Psychology, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. |
| Πηγή: | Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research [Autism Res] 2026 Aug; Vol. 19 (8), pp. e70300. Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 Jun 23. |
| Τύπος έκδοσης: | Journal Article |
| Γλώσσα: | English |
| Στοιχεία περιοδικού: | Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 101461858 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1939-3806 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 19393806 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Autism Res Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Original Publication: Hoboken, NJ : John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |
| Ιατρικοί όροι (MeSH): | Autistic Disorder*/psychology , Autism Spectrum Disorder*/psychology , Multilingualism* , Social Interaction* , Social Behavior*, Humans ; Female ; Adult ; Male ; Young Adult ; Middle Aged ; Adolescent ; Interpersonal Relations |
| Περίληψη: | Autism Spectrum Disorder is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by persistent difficulties in social interaction and communication alongside restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities. Emerging evidence suggests that bi/multilingualism may enhance social interaction skills, yet prior research has largely focused on children, relied on small samples, and used oversimplified monolingual-bilingual groupings. The present study examines whether multilingual engagement predicts autism-associated social traits in adults with and without autism diagnoses. Specifically, we investigated whether childhood and/or current multilingual engagement (operationalized as entropy) predicts social interaction, communication, and overall autistic traits, measured via the Comprehensive Autistic Trait Inventory (CATI). Four hundred and fifty-nine adults (of which 132 diagnosed autistic) participated in the study. Analyses revealed that, both in the full sample and in the subsample of individuals with autism diagnoses, greater language entropy was associated with lower CATI scores in social interaction and overall. No relation between language entropy and communication traits was found. Within the autistic subgroup, the associations between current language entropy and both social interaction and overall CATI scores had large effect sizes (ηp 2 = 0.14-0.18). These findings show that multilingual engagement is reliably associated with reduced social autistic traits in adulthood. (© 2026 The Author(s). Autism Research published by International Society for Autism Research and Wiley Periodicals LLC.) |
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| Grant Information: | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Contributed Indexing: | Keywords: autism; bilingualism; communication; multilingualism; social interaction; traits Local Abstract: [plain-language-summary] Autism is a developmental condition which often involves social and behavioural difficulties. This study looked at whether speaking more than one language positively affects autistic and no‐autistic adults' social skills. We found that people who regularly use multiple languages showed fewer social difficulties linked to autism. The effect was strongest in autistic adults. |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20260623 Date Completed: 20260813 Latest Revision: 20260815 |
| Update Code: | 20260815 |
| PubMed Central ID: | PMC13471769 |
| DOI: | 10.1002/aur.70300 |
| PMID: | 42333816 |
| Βάση Δεδομένων: | MEDLINE |
| ISSN: | 1939-3806 |
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| DOI: | 10.1002/aur.70300 |