Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Mar 28;10(1):81.
doi: 10.1186/s40359-022-00774-z.

Personality as a mediator of autistic traits and internalizing symptoms in two community samples

Olivia N Grella  1 , Amanda Dunlap  2 , Alycia M Nicholson  2 , Kimberly Stevens  3 , Brian Pittman  4 , Silvia Corbera  2   5 , Gretchen Diefenbach  4   3 , Godfrey Pearlson  2   4 , Michal Assaf  2   4
Affiliations

Personality as a mediator of autistic traits and internalizing symptoms in two community samples

Olivia N Grella et al. BMC Psychol. .

Abstract

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by deficits in social functioning and is comorbid with internalizing disorders and symptoms. While personality is associated with these symptoms and social functioning in non-ASD samples, its role mediating the relationship between ASD traits and internalizing symptoms is not clear.

Methods: We studied the mediating effect of personality on the correlations between ASD traits and internalizing symptoms (i.e., depression, anxiety, stress) in two samples. Additionally, we explored the moderating effect of gender. Analyses were applied to a small (Study 1; N = 101) undergraduate sample. A broader sample recruited via an online crowdsourcing platform (Study 2; N = 371) was used to validate the results.

Results: Study 1's mediation analyses revealed that neuroticism was the only significant mediator. Study 2 replicated these results by finding extraversion to be an additional mediator for anxiety and extraversion, openness, and agreeableness as additional mediators for stress. Moderation analyses revealed that gender was never a significant moderator.

Conclusions: These results support the effects of personality on the relationship between autism traits and internalizing symptoms. Future research should explore these effects in clinical samples to better understand the role of personality in symptomatology and the need to address it as part of intervention.

Keywords: Anxiety; Autism spectrum disorder; Depression; Gender; Internalizing disorders; Personality; Social impairment; Stress.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Mediations models from Study 1 with significant indirect effects indicated with an asterisk (*). See Table 2  for complete effect values for for a and b paths as well as the indirect effects (a*b)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Mediations models from Study 2 with significant indirect effects indicated with an asterisk (*). See Table 3 for complete effect values for a and b paths as well as the indirect effects (a*b)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. American Psychiatric Association . Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. 5. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing; 2013.
    1. Antony MM, Bieling PJ, Cox BJ, Enns MW, Swinson RP. Psychometric properties of the 42-item and 21-item versions of the depression anxiety stress scales in clinical groups and a community sample. Psychol Assess. 1998;10(2):176–181.
    1. Asif S, Mudassar A, Shahzad TZ, Raouf M, Pervaiz T. Frequency of depression, anxiety, and stress among university students. Pak J Med Sci. 2020;36(5):971–976. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Beiter R, Nash R, McCrady M, Rhoades D, Linscomb M, Clarahan M, Sammut S. The prevalence and correlates of depression, anxiety, and stress in a sample of college students. J Affect Disord. 2015;173:90–96. - PubMed
    1. Bilker WB, Hansen JA, Brensinger CM, Richard J, Gur RE, Gur RC. Development of abbreviated nine-item forms of the Raven's standard progressive matrices test. Assessment. 2012;19(3):354–369. - PMC - PubMed