‘Autistic or not, doesn’t really matter. It matters more if they’re kind’: An exploration of the influence of friendship within cross-neurotype dyads.

Research attempting to understand the social interactions of autistic people has highlighted that part of the difference in social interactions for autistic people stems from dyadic factors such as the neurotype composition of the dyad (Crompton, Sharp, et al., 2020; Crompton, Ropar, Evans-Williams, Flynn, & Fletcher-Watson, 2020). However, research has exclusively examined interactions between stranger dyads. Therefore, the current thesis used a multimethods approach to explore social interactions for autistic people within friendship dyads. The first study (Chapter 2a) used interviews with autistic teenagers to understand their social interactions, friendships, and neurotype-specific behaviours. The second study (Chapter 2b) expanded these interviews to include a broader range of autistic perspectives. Both studies led to the development of themes centred around the social interaction and friendship experiences of these autistic people, such as autistic people feeling the emphasis is often placed on them in social interactions. Study 3 (Chapter 3) then examined differences between autistic-neurotypical friendship dyads and autistic-neurotypical stranger dyads for adults in an online setting, expanding previous research findings in this area (Rifai, Fletcher- Watson, Jiménez-Sánchez, & Crompton, 2022). Results indicated an interaction effect of both the neurotype composition of the dyad (autistic-neurotypical or neurotypicalneurotypical) and the friendship status of the dyad (friend/stranger) on overall interaction quality. However, no significant differences were found on overall behavioural measures. Finally, Study 4 (Chapter 4) examined differences between autistic-neurotypical friendship dyads and autistic-neurotypical stranger dyads for autistic adolescents within a school setting. Findings were somewhat mixed, with no overall differences in interaction quality, and only a significant main effect of neurotype composition (neurotypicalautistic/ neurotypical-neurotypical) on the proportion of mutual gaze within dyads. Taken together, the findings highlight the importance of studying friendships for autistic people and the potential use of friendships as a context for understanding how cross-neurotype interactions can be successful.