SynthesisAutism : the international journal of research and practice2022
Loneliness in autistic adults: A systematic review.
Synthesis in Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 64 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
64 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 147 citations in OpenAlex.
- Systematic Review of Group-Based Emotion Regulation Interventions for Autistic Children's Socio-Emotional Competence.OTJR : occupation, participation and health · 2026Pooled it
- 'A certain magic' - autistic adults' experiences of interacting with other autistic people and its relation to Quality of Life: A systematic review and thematic meta-synthesis.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2025Pooled it
- Investigating Social Competence in a Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial of a Theatre-Based Intervention Enhanced for Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2025Trial
- Low Battery Alarm; A Scoping Review of Autistic Burnout.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- Online Dating as a Middleman: Autistic Young Adults' Pursuit of Romantic Connection.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- The Joy and the Pain of Being Alone: Managing the Solitude-Loneliness (SOLO) Paradox in People High on the Autism Spectrum.Clinical child and family psychology review · 2026Review
- What Factors Have Been the Most Helpful and Harmful and When? Identifying Key Impacts on Psychosocial Development According to Autistic Adults and Caregivers.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- As warm as competent, really? On the importance of stereotype facets in the context of autism.The British journal of social psychology · 2026Article
- Social Network Types in Autistic Adults and Its Associations with Mastery, Quality of Life, and Autism Characteristics.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- 'A New Pace of Life': A Mixed-Methods Exploration of Retirement Plans, Preparations and Experiences in Middle-Aged and Older Autistic and Non-Autistic Adults.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2026Article
- Social Adaptation to Change in Peer Behavior Before and After a Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial of a Theatre-Based Intervention for Adults With Autism.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- "Retirement Is One Hell of a Change": Autistic People's Experiences of Retiring.Autism in adulthood · 2026Article
- Eliciting the views of autistic adolescents attending specialist schools on what friendships mean to them.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2026Article
- Pharmacist perceptions on the presentation of social isolation and loneliness (SIL) in community pharmacy settings in Ireland - A mixed methods study.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2026Article
- Exploring the Feasibility of Social Skills Programs for Autistic Youth Through Virtual Reality.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- A Comparative Study of Self-Efficacy, Loneliness, and Well-Being in Adolescents Diagnosed With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Specific Learning Disorder.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- Exploring the autism and functional neurological disorder association: Considerations from biopsychosocial, neuropsychological and computational models.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2026Review
- Understanding autistic identity contingencies: The chain mediation effect of autism acceptance and loneliness in ableist microaggressions and social camouflage.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2026Article
- The double-edged sword of autistic traits: opposing pathways to loneliness via friendship similarity in Chinese adults.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Differences in the Social Experiences of Autistic and Non-Autistic Adolescents by Gender.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2025Article
4 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
lay abstractRecently, researchers have been interested in how autistic people experience loneliness. Yet, most of this research has focused on loneliness in autistic children and young people. We present the results of a systematic review on loneliness in autistic adults. A systematic review is a rigorous way of searching for all existing research on a topic and summarizing the findings about specific questions. We searched for all research published on this topic until 9 April 2021. We found 34 articles that investigated loneliness in autistic adults. This research showed that (1) there is fairly little research that has involved directly asking autistic adults about their first-hand experiences of loneliness (e.g. what loneliness feels like for them); (2) few research studies have used loneliness questionnaires specifically developed for autistic adults (this was attempted in just one research study); (3) collective loneliness (i.e. loneliness associated with how much an autistic person feels they 'fit in' to society) seems important to autistic adults but has not been investigated as commonly as other aspects of loneliness (e.g. loneliness associated with romantic relationships or friendships); (4) things that might increase loneliness in autistic adults include anxiety and depression, and a lack of autism understanding and acceptance, for example; and (5) things that might reduce loneliness in autistic adults include having relationships and self-acceptance, for example. In our article, we discuss the kinds of future research on loneliness in autistic adults that might be useful.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.