Abstract
The present study investigated whether undergraduate students with high levels of autism-spectrum symptoms perceived lower social supports from their family and friends than individuals with low levels of autism-spectrum symptoms did. It also examined the relationship between autism-spectrum symptoms, perceived social support, paranoia, and depressive symptoms. The package of questionnaires including the Autism-spectrum Quotient was administered to 302 undergraduate students. A result of ANOVA indicated that individuals with high autism-spectrum symptoms perceived lower social supports than individuals with low levels of the symptoms. Perceived supports had effects in ameliorating depression in the group with low autism-spectrum, while they had no effect for the high autism-spectrum group. Furthermore, paranoia had moderating effects on depression in individuals with high autism-spectrum who perceived social supports: individuals with low levels of paranoia had lower depression than those with high levels of paranoia did. These results suggested that for individuals with high levels of autism-spectrum symptoms their paranoia should be assessed and treated in order to reduce depression through social support.
