Personality as a mediator of autistic traits and internalizing symptoms in two community samples

BACKGROUND: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by deficits in social functioning and is comorbid with internalizing disorders and symptoms. While personality is associated with these symptoms and social functioning in non-ASD samples, its role mediating the relationship between ASD traits and internalizing symptoms is not clear. METHODS: We studied the mediating effect of personality on the correlations between ASD traits and internalizing symptoms (i.e., depression, anxiety, stress) in two samples. Additionally, we explored the moderating effect of gender. Analyses were applied to a small (Study 1; N = 101) undergraduate sample. A broader sample recruited via an online crowdsourcing platform (Study 2; N = 371) was used to validate the results. RESULTS: Study 1’s mediation analyses revealed that neuroticism was the only significant mediator. Study 2 replicated these results by finding extraversion to be an additional mediator for anxiety and extraversion, openness, and agreeableness as additional mediators for stress. Moderation analyses revealed that gender was never a significant moderator. CONCLUSIONS: These results support the effects of personality on the relationship between autism traits and internalizing symptoms. Future research should explore these effects in clinical samples to better understand the role of personality in symptomatology and the need to address it as part of intervention. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40359-022-00774-z.