The mental health rewards of interpersonal strengths: kindness and social intelligence are linked to lower internalizing and externalizing problems in Chinese children with autism spectrum disorders

Past studies show that character strengths matter for well-being outcomes in typically developing students. However, there is scarce evidence on the psychological benefits of these strengths among students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This study aims to examine the associations of humanity-oriented character strengths (i.e. social intelligence, love, and kindness) with internalizing and externalizing problems among children with ASD. 304 caregivers of children with ASD (72.7% boys) completed a survey on demographic information, humanity-oriented character strengths, parental awareness of child's emotions, internalizing and externalizing problems, and repetitive behaviors. Results of structural equation modeling demonstrated that when controlling for the effects of other strengths and covariates (e.g. repetitive behaviors and parental awareness of child's emotions), social intelligence and kindness negatively predicted internalizing behaviors while social intelligence negatively predicted externalizing problems. This study corroborates existing evidence on the psychological rewards associated with humanity-oriented character strengths among individuals with ASD.