The matching law provides a quantitative description of social time allocation in children with autism.
J Appl Behav Anal
; 55(3): 934-957, 2022 06.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-35607852
ABSTRACT
Recent research has developed and evaluated assessments of sociability in which time allocation near or away from an adult who initiates social interactions is used to characterize the participant as social, indifferent, or avoidant of social interaction. Though these qualitative outcomes have been useful, no studies have evaluated methods of obtaining more quantitative measures of sociability. The matching law has been demonstrated to describe a wide range of human behavior and may also be useful in describing social time allocation. We adapted the matching law and assessment of sociability procedures with the aim of providing a more precise, quantitative measure of sociability. We fitted the matching equation to the social time allocation data of 8 children with autism spectrum disorder. The equation was effective in quantifying sociability, accounted for a large proportion of variance in participants' behavior, did so equally well for participants who were social and avoidant, and provided a more sensitive measure relative to those used in previous research. The implications of this methodology, its potential utility, and directions for future research are discussed.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Transtorno Autístico
/
Transtorno do Espectro Autista
Tipo de estudo:
Qualitative_research
Limite:
Child
/
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Appl Behav Anal
Ano de publicação:
2022
Tipo de documento:
Article