Is the Association Between Emotion Recognition and Social Functioning Mediated by Cognitive Empathy and Emotional Language? An Examination of School-Aged Autistic Children

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face substantial challenges in understanding emotions, including difficulty in recognizing emotions through nonverbal cues, interpreting others' affective and mental states, and developing emotional vocabulary. Research suggests that the association between emotion recognition and social functioning is mediated by emotional language and cognitive empathy. However, this relationship remains underexplored in autistic children. Addressing this gap was the primary goal of this study, which comprised 116 autistic children (17 females), aged 7–10 (M = 8.26, SD = 0.76). Participants completed a comprehensive assessment battery, comprising multi-modal emotion recognition, cognitive empathy, and emotional language tasks. Social functioning was evaluated through naturalistic observations during free play, supplemented by a parent-reported standardized measure. Path analysis results revealed that after controlling for age, cognitive abilities, and autism severity, the relationship between emotion recognition and social functioning was mediated by cognitive empathy. Additionally, emotional language emerged as a contributing factor, enhancing cognitive empathy and further supporting its role in social functioning. These findings present an indirect path between emotion recognition and social functioning through emotional language and cognitive empathy, highlighting the importance of targeting these components in interventions aimed at promoting social communication and adaptive social skills in autistic children.