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The Role of an Educational Intervention in Modifying Attitudes TowardAutistic Relationships
Griffiths, Emma
Griffiths, Emma
Abstract
Despite growing acceptance of autism, autistic adults often face stereotypes framing them aschild-like, unemotional, or incapable of participating in romantic and sexual relationships. Whilethese attitudes contribute to stigma, social exclusion, and the denial of autistic adults’ intimateneeds and well-being, little research has specifically addressed attitudes toward autisticrelationships involving romance and sexuality. The present study examined whether a brief,virtual educational intervention could improve general and intimacy-specific attitudes towardautistic adults. Young adult participants (n = 192) completed measures of social distance, generalattitudes, endorsements of intimacy-related stereotypes, feelings of warmth toward autisticpeers, and feelings of warmth toward non-autistic peers before and after experiencing a text-based intervention combatting stereotypes related to autistic relationships. Results indicatedsignificant improvements across all measures except warmth toward non-autistic individuals,suggesting that the intervention specifically improved attitudes toward autistic individuals. Inparticular, endorsements of intimacy-related stereotypes showed the greatest improvements,suggesting that a targeted educational intervention can meaningfully address attitudes towardthe capacity of autistic adults to engage in romance, sexuality, and intimacy. Moderation analysesfurther revealed that baseline autism knowledge and gender moderated the magnitude ofimprovement between pre-test and post-test scores. These findings highlight the efficacy of abrief educational intervention in improving both general and intimacy-related attitudes towardautistic individuals. Integrating similar interventions into educational settings, sex educationcurricula, and community programs may help counteract stigma and support autistic adults’autonomy and rights to healthy intimate relationships.
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2025-12-10
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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
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2027-12-10
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Neuroscience