The network structure of the Special Interests Survey

Despite the prevalence of special interests (SIs) in autistic youth, research on SIs and how they are characterized is limited. Indeed, a significant challenge in identifying and classifying SIs lies in capturing the vast and diverse scope of potential interests in this population. The recently developed Special Interest Survey (SIS) is a caregiver‐report measure to improve SI characterization by capturing a broad range of past and current SIs. In the present study, we performed a network analysis of the SIS to examine relations between SIs and identify distinct interest clusters. We analyzed data from 1992 caregivers of autistic youths who completed the SIS. The network of SIs was densely interconnected, characterized by six communities of interests: Fact‐seeking, Engineering, Order‐seeking, Object Attachment, Entertainment, and Scholarly Pursuits. Findings suggest that the structure of the observed network is likely to generalize to similar samples. Of all the SIs and their respective communities, behaviors related to Fact‐seeking were identified as the most central, meaning that endorsement of these interests was most strongly related to co‐endorsement of other SIs. These findings lay the groundwork for future work on SIs, such as improved assessment techniques and linkage of SIs to a broad range of demographic variables, youth characteristics, and autism symptoms. Lay Summary The present study demonstrated that special interests in autistic children, as measured by the Special Interests Survey, can be classified in six interest clusters: Fact‐seeking, Engineering, Order‐seeking, Object Attachment, Entertainment, and Scholarly Pursuits. This classification system is likely to generalize to other similar samples. The specific interest of fact‐seeking about things was the most important item in the system, suggesting that other special interests may stem from this one. The importance of Fact‐seeking in the system may also reflect that youth frequently engage in their interests through research.