Descriptive Analyses of Behaviors during Social Interactions

ABSTRACT

Background

Individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders demonstrate difficulty initiating and maintaining eye contact from early infancy into adulthood. However, interventions aimed at improving eye contact lack normative eye contact data to guide treatment.

Methods

The current study quantified behaviors (e.g., eye contact, vocalizations, head/shoulder, and hand movement) exhibited by college students during social encounters to gather normative data regarding the duration of targeted behaviors. A latent profile analysis was also used to identify participants' patterns of responding.

Results and Discussion

Participants engaged in high levels of eye contact (M =89.3% of time) and head/shoulder movement (M= 85.0% of time), moderate levels of vocalizations (M= 65.0% of time), and low levels of hand movement (M =35% of time). Results highlight the need for social skills training procedures to target multiple behaviors in conjunction with eye contact and vocalizations. In addition, studies evaluating treatment packages or assessing the relationship between eye contact and other variables (e.g., physiological responses) may use these normative data to inform decisions.

KEYWORDS:

• Eye contact
• latent profile analysis
• neurodevelopmental disorders
• social skills

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Gabby McKinnell, Anna Kate Edgemon, Amanda Niedfeld, and Jodi Coon for their assistance with data collection.

Declaration of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.