Threatened Social Needs After Exclusion in Undergraduate Students With Varying Degrees of Attention Switching Difficulties

Individuals on the autism spectrum seem to be at higher risk for social exclusion, which can have serious psychological and physiological consequences. The current study examined how individuals with varying traits of autism are impacted by social exclusion in terms of threats to their social needs for belonging, control, selfesteem, and meaningful existence. Undergraduates (N N = 185) completed a self report measure of autistic traits (i.e., Autism Spectrum Quotient), were randomly assigned to be included or excluded in a virtual ball tossing game (i.e., CyberBall), and threats to their social needs were assessed. Results from multiple regression analyses indicated that greater challenges in attention switching impacted how individuals experienced social exclusion. More specifically, those who reported greater challenges also reported lower overall need threat (sr2 sr 2 = .03) and threats to meaningful existence (sr2 sr 2 = .03) after being excluded during CyberBall. These effects did not emerge after inclusion. Further, threats to overall needs ( d low = 6.73, d avg = 5.21, d high = 3.70) and meaningful existence ( d low = 1.47, d avg = 1.11, d high = 0.75) were greater in the exclusion condition compared to the inclusion condition across all levels of attention switching. However, the strength of the association between experimental condition and need threat was the weakest among individuals highest in attention switching difficulties. A better understanding of the way need threat manifests itself illuminates how individuals with varying levels of autistic traits may respond to a common type of bullying they experience: social exclusion.