“What if I don't know what to do?”: Investigating the correlation between autistic traits, social anxiety, and Theory of Mind in Italian children and youth

Research on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has seen exponential growth in recent decades. However, many questions remain unanswered, particularly concerning individuals who exhibit ASD characteristics but do not meet all diagnostic criteria. Nevertheless, research has revealed a notable presence of individuals displaying high autistic traits in the general population and their relation with adverse outcomes, such as social anxiety. Therefore, the present study aims to explore the correlation between autistic traits and social anxiety, as well as the moderating role of Theory of Mind in this relationship. For this purpose, 182 Italian parents of children and adolescents aged 6 to 18 (n= 182, Mage=10.832, Sdage=3.188) were asked to complete an online questionnaire about their offspring. The Parent-Report Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS: Constantino et al., 2005) was used to assess autistic traits, the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory for Children – Parent Report (Beidel et al., 2000) measured social anxiety symptoms, and the Theory of Mind Inventory (ToMI: Hutchins et al., 2011) evaluated first-order Theory of Mind beliefs. Two hypotheses were tested: (1) there would be a positive correlation between social anxiety and autistic traits, and (2) this correlation would be negatively mediated by Theory of Mind. The results indicated a moderate positive correlation between social anxiety and autistic traits, confirming the first hypothesis. Additionally, the data suggested a moderating effect of Theory of Mind on the relationship between social anxiety and autistic traits, but positive and only evident in groups with higher Theory of Mind scores, partially supporting the second hypothesis. Some study limitations should be considered, including sample size, participant recruitment method, and inherent issues with using a parent-report questionnaire, which indirectly assesses the child's abilities. Nonetheless, this study underscores the importance of understanding autism characteristics below the diagnostic threshold and their potential impact on the lives of children and adolescents. Furthermore, it sheds light on the role of Theory of Mind, whose relationship with autistic traits remains unclear and has produced conflicting results.