Cultural context and the relationship between autistic traits and belief in a just world

Bertrams, Alex (2021). Cultural context and the relationship between autistic traits and belief in a just world. Personality and individual differences, 173, p. 110642. Elsevier 10.1016/j.paid.2021.110642

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In the USA, people who are high in autistic traits have been found to have lower degrees of general belief in a just world than people who are low in autistic traits. One explanation for this relationship could be that people with high levels of autistic traits receive relatively little influence from their social contexts and are therefore less likely to adopt cultural views. If this assumption is correct, the relationship between autistic traits and belief in a just world should be mitigated in cultures wherein the belief in a just world is relatively low (e.g., Great Britain). In this study, 241 participants from Great Britain and 249 participants from the USA completed measures of general belief in a just world and autistic traits. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the general belief in a just world was lower in Great Britain than in the USA. Moreover, culture served as a moderator: while autistic traits were negatively related to belief in a just world in the USA, these variables were unrelated in Great Britain. The present findings suggest that cultural context may be an important aspect in autism research, and autistic traits may be a useful variable in cross-cultural psychology.

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