(PS3-B47) Fear of Negative Evaluation and Friendship Quality in First-semester College Students: The Roles of Gender, Autistic Traits, and Worry

Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) often co-occurs with autism and can exacerbate difficulties in social communication and interaction in autistic individuals (Maddox & White, 2015). Fear of negative evaluation (FNE) is at the core of SAD and refers to being afraid that others will view oneself in a negative light (Fredrick & Luebbe, 2022). The stability of the FNE construct has been demonstrated in autistic and non-autistic samples expressing social anxiety (Lei & Russell, 2021). Past research has indicated a negative relationship between SAD and friendship quality in non-autistic girls (La Greca & Lopez, 1998; Greco & Morris, 2005). However, the relationship between FNE and friendship quality has been found to differ for non-autistic boys and girls (Davila & Kornieko, 2022). Furthermore, FNE and worry are robustly correlated in non-autistic young adults (Cowden, 2005). We aimed to examine how FNE relates to friendship quality in autistic and non-autistic young adults after a period of transition (the first semester of college), and whether this relationship is moderated by gender and mediated by self-reported autistic traits and generalized worry.

N=163 college freshmen (38.6% men, 47.0% women, and 12.7% nonbinary) at four universities completed a measure of autistic traits (SRS-2; Constantino, 2012) at the start of the 2020-2022 fall semesters. Participants completed a measure of FNE (BFNE; Leary, 1983), friendship quality (NIH Friendship Tool; NIH, 2012), and the three-item Penn State Worry Questionnaire (Berle et al., 2011) at the end of the semester. Correlations were used to assess the relationship between FNE and friendship quality and moderation and mediation analyses were run to assess the potential roles of gender, autistic traits, and worry.

FNE and friendship quality were negatively correlated, r=-.21, p=.008. Additionally, FNE was positively related to autistic traits (r=.24, p=.002) and worry (r=.65, p< .001), whereas friendship was negatively related to autistic traits (r=-.21, p=.008) and worry (r=-.27, p< .001). Gender moderated the relationship between FNE and friendship (b=.15, p=.017). Probing showed that identifying as a man (b=-.27, p< .001), rather than as a woman or as a non-binary individual, accounted for this moderation. Autistic traits partially mediated the relationship between FNE and friendship, with an indirect effect = -0.02, CI [-0.055, -0.001]. Worry fully mediated the relationship between FNE and friendship, with an indirect effect = -0.09, CI [-0.169, -0.017].

Results indicate that FNE may be a worthwhile intervention target for supporting friendship-building during students’ first semester in college (Lei & Russell, 2021; Ung et al., 2016), particularly for those presenting with greater autistic traits and worry. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has been adapted for autistic children (Reavan, 2009) and autistic adults (Spain et al., 2015). CBT has also been shown to reduce worry in the general population (Querstret & Cropley, 2013). Thus, by targeting worry, CBT may serve to improve friendship quality for those with a high level of FNE. College is a period of significant change for all young adults, so having friends that one can turn to for support during this vulnerable time is especially imperative.