Autism Spectrum Disorders, Anxiety, and Religion: The Role of Personality Traits

Joke van Nieuw Amerongen-Meeuse; Hanneke Schaap-Jonker; Marleen Bout; Bram Sizoo

doi:10.3390/rel16030371

Autism Spectrum Disorders, Anxiety, and Religion: The Role of Personality Traits

Joke van Nieuw Amerongen-Meeuse^*, Hanneke Schaap-Jonker, Marleen Bout, Bram Sizoo

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

In mental health care, religion and spirituality can both support and hinder the therapeutic process. This is related to the way people see God or the divine, known as ‘God representations’. Previous research suggests that God representations of persons with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) tend to be more negative compared with others. The current study, conducted among 103 participants, shows that after adjusting for religious saliency, having an ASD diagnosis had no independent power to predict God representations. However, certain personality traits, being associated with ASD, did. Specifically, low self-directedness and low reward dependence were associated with more negative God representations. ASD usually is a diagnosis for life, and personality traits do not easily change. Scientific and clinical implications are discussed.

Original language	English
Article number	371
Pages (from-to)	1-14
Number of pages	14
Journal	Religions
Volume	16
Issue number	3
Early online date	14 Mar 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16030371
Publication status	Published - Mar 2025

Bibliographical note

This article belongs to the Special Issue Studies on the Psychology of Religion: Christian Spirituality and Personal/Social Well-Being.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 by the authors.

Keywords

anxiety disorders
autism spectrum disorders
god representation
personality
religion

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10.3390/rel16030371Licence: CC BY

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abstract = "In mental health care, religion and spirituality can both support and hinder the therapeutic process. This is related to the way people see God or the divine, known as {\textquoteleft}God representations{\textquoteright}. Previous research suggests that God representations of persons with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) tend to be more negative compared with others. The current study, conducted among 103 participants, shows that after adjusting for religious saliency, having an ASD diagnosis had no independent power to predict God representations. However, certain personality traits, being associated with ASD, did. Specifically, low self-directedness and low reward dependence were associated with more negative God representations. ASD usually is a diagnosis for life, and personality traits do not easily change. Scientific and clinical implications are discussed.",

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Autism Spectrum Disorders, Anxiety, and Religion: The Role of Personality Traits

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