Autistic adults prefer social touch less but engage just as much: The impact of social context, relationship type, sensory responsivity, and psychological factors.

ABSTRACT: Autistic people face touch-related challenges, yet the factors influencing these difficulties are not well understood. We developed a novel instrument to capture social touch experiences of autistic adults, along with both social and individual factors that influence them. Using a body-painting task and questionnaires, we demonstrated that the perception of touch interactions varies based on social contexts and neurotypes. Autistic adults, on average, prefer touch less, but the type of relationship influences the perceived comfort and meaningfulness of touch similarly in both groups. Regarding the appropriateness, erogeneity, and pleasantness of social touch, the autistic group showed different touch perceptions in professional and friendly scenarios compared to the non-autistic group, whe

SUBMITTER: Li MTW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12923623 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature