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Chinese College Students’ Knowledge of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Social Distance from Individuals with ASD: The Mediating Role of Negative Stereotypes

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Abstract

This study investigated whether negative stereotypes are responsible for the effect of ASD knowledge on social distance from individuals with ASD among college students. A sample of 869 neurotypical Chinese college students completed a cross-sectional survey to assess social distance, ASD knowledge, and negative stereotypes. Pearson correlation analysis yielded significant correlations between social distance, ASD knowledge, and negative stereotypes. Multiple mediation analysis showed that negative stereotypes mediated the link between social distance and ASD knowledge. Specifically, greater ASD knowledge predicted reduced social distance through decreased stereotyping related to dangerousness, personal responsibility for the disorder, and discontinuity, but also predicted greater social distance through increased stereotyping related to social inappropriateness. The findings deepen our understanding of the association between ASD knowledge and social distance by revealing the mediating role of negative stereotypes, and provide information that can help improve anti-stigma initiatives in college settings.

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Funding

This article was funded by National Education Planning Project of China (CN) Grant No. CBA190245.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Special Education Department, School of Education, Guangzhou University, 230 Wai Huan Xi Road, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou, 510006, People’s Republic of China

    Minghui Lu, Rong Wang & Feifan Pang

  2. Special Education Department, School of Education, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Yuqing Zou

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  1. Minghui Lu
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  2. Rong Wang
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  4. Feifan Pang
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Contributions

ML and FP conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination and drafted the manuscript; RW participated in interpretation of the data, performed the statistical analysis, and provided critical revisions; YZ participated in data collection and provided critical revisions. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Feifan Pang.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of Guangzhou University and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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Lu, M., Wang, R., Zou, Y. et al. Chinese College Students’ Knowledge of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Social Distance from Individuals with ASD: The Mediating Role of Negative Stereotypes. J Autism Dev Disord 52, 3676–3685 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05252-w

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