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Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are more likely to be bullied than children without ASD and this intimidation worsens with age, according to a new study by Binghamton University of the State University of New York.
Hannah Morton, a graduate student in the Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology from the University of Binghamton, aimed to conceptualize bullying in children with ASD in order to specifically identify different types of bullying. and behavior. His research also points to the need for better definitions of bullying behaviors.
"This research is important because it contributes to our understanding of the nuance of bullying," Morton said. "This variability means that it is crucial to establish a definition of bullying and have standard badessments to know when and what types of bullying occur."
Morton, along with psychologists Jennifer Gillis, Richard Mattson, and Raymond Romanczyk of Binghamton, focused this study on teachers and parents of children with ASD, as well as community members without ASD children. Participants participated in a survey containing 80 scenarios of interactions between two school-aged children. The scenarios varied from children aged four to fifteen. Sixty-four of these scenarios included a type of bullying behavior (physical, verbal, interpersonal, and cyber). The participants were randomly presented with 16 scenarios and were asked to rate the severity of the interaction between the two children and to indicate the types of bullying present.
The results showed that a child's high age predicts higher bullying severity indices. The results also showed that bullying in older children with ASD is considered particularly problematic by their parents and the perceived severity of bullying varies with the type of bullying behavior (physical, verbal, interpersonal and cyber).
"This document emphasizes that bullying is a very broad construction," Morton said. "What two people can refer to when they use the term" bullying "- regardless of whether they're parents, teachers, researchers, etc. – probably differs, and perhaps in a subtle way."
Morton plans to continue his research on this topic by focusing specifically on the bullying behaviors that children with ASD have over children without ASD.
This research was conducted by the Institute for Child Development at Binghamton University, which provides early intervention services, speech therapy services and more to children and families in the Binghamton area.
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Material provided by Binghamton University. Note: Content can be changed for style and length.
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