Librería Samer Atenea
Librería Aciertas (Toledo)
Kálamo Books
Librería Perelló (Valencia)
Librería Elías (Asturias)
Donde los libros
Librería Kolima (Madrid)
Librería Proteo (Málaga)
This study explored the perspective of behavior consultants on how autistic young adultsformed friendships in the adolescent developmental stage and how they maintained them intoadulthood. The research question for this study was 'How do behavior consultants describe theformation and maintenance of autistic young adults’ friendships from adolescence to youngadulthood?' The sample consisted of ten behavior consultants who have been working with anindividual with ASD and have worked as a behavior consultant. The generic qualitative inquirymethod was used to discover how friendships are formed in adolescence by autistic young adultsfrom the perspective of behavior consultants who are with the young adults daily. Inductiveanalysis was used to analyze the data and the results revealed three themes found in autisticyoung adults’ forming and maintaining friendships from adolescence into young adulthood. Thethree themes are the formation and maintenance of friendships of autistic young adults aresimilar to non-neurodivergent friendships, transportation issues negatively affect friendships, andthe decreased ability to understand social cues causes an increase in anxiety, which can lead tonegatively affecting the formation and maintenance of friendships. The findings also exploredhow technology can affect the formation and maintenance of friendships, showed genderdifferences in technology usage, and delved into how social penetration theory can apply toautistic individuals and friendship formation.
