Self-Disorders in Individuals with Autistic Traits: Contribution of Reduced Autobiographical Reasoning Capacities.
The present web-based study (N = 840) aimed to illuminate the cognitive mechanisms underlying self-disorders in autism. Initially, participants selected three self-defining memories. Then, we assessed their capacity to give meaning to these events (i.e., meaning making), their tendency to scrutinize autobiographical memory to better understand themselves (i.e., self-continuity function of autobiographical memory) and their clarity of self-concept. The results showed that individuals with high autistic traits (ATs) had a lower clarity of self-concept than control participants. Meaning making was also reduced in AT individuals and mediated the relation between AT and self-concept clarity. Our results suggest that the reduced clarity of self-concept in AT individuals is related to an impaired capacity to make meaning of important past life events.
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistr. 52, 20246, Hamburg, Germany. fabrice.berna@chru-strasbourg.fr.
Fabrice
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6118-0629
F
Berna
Department of Occupational and Consumer Psychology, Freiburg University, Freiburg, Germany.
Anja S
AS
Göritz
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistr. 52, 20246, Hamburg, Germany.
Johanna
J
Schröder
INSERM U-1114, Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg, Fédération de Médecine Translationnelle de Strasbourg, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France.|Fondation FondaMental, Créteil, France.
Romain
R
Coutelle
INSERM U-1114, Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg, Fédération de Médecine Translationnelle de Strasbourg, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France.|Fondation FondaMental, Créteil, France.
Jean-Marie
JM
Danion
Département de Psychiatrie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Reims, Reims, France.|UFR de Psychologie, Université de Toulouse 2 Jean Jaurès, Toulouse, France.
Christine V
CV
Cuervo-Lombard
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistr. 52, 20246, Hamburg, Germany.
Steffen
S
Moritz
D000328:Adult; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D012649:Self Concept; D013850:Thinking
Autism; Autobiographical memory; Autobiographical reasoning; Self