Narrative abilities of autistic and non-autistic adolescents: The role of mentalising and executive function.

Researchers compared storytelling abilities between autistic and non-autistic teenagers. They found that the ability to understand others' thoughts and feelings (called 'mentalising') was more important for good storytelling than whether a teen was autistic or not. While autistic teens had some differences in story structure, their ability to make stories make sense was similar to non-autistic teens when mentalising skills were considered.

This comparative study examined narrative abilities in 44 autistic and 54 non-autistic adolescents aged 11-15 years, matched on age, sex, cognitive ability, and language skills. Participants completed video-based spoken narrative tasks assessed for story structure and coherence, alongside measures of mentalising (advanced theory of mind) and executive function. Results showed mentalising skills significantly predicted narrative performance across all measures and were stronger predictors than autism diagnosis. Diagnostic group predicted story structure but not coherence scores.

Executive function measures did not predict narrative ability. The findings suggest mentalising abilities play a crucial role in narrative generation for both autistic and non-autistic adolescents.

Assessment and intervention should prioritize mentalising skills development over executive function training for narrative improvement. Autistic adolescents may benefit from targeted support for story structure while maintaining focus on mentalising abilities to support overall narrative competence.

Single study design limits generalizability. Sample size relatively small for subgroup analyses. Cross-sectional design prevents causal inferences. Study type not specified in metadata, limiting methodological assessment.

Spoken narrative skills are important for adolescents in their everyday lives. Previous research suggests that producing well-structured and coherent narratives may be challenging for autistic young people. Mentalising, also known as "advanced Theory of Mind" (ToM) and "Executive Function" (EF) are two cognitive abilities frequently explored in relation to autism, both of which may be implicated in narrative ability. The present study investigated these relationships in a group of autistic adolescents (N = 44) aged 11-15 years and a comparable non-autistic group (N = 54) that did not significantly differ on age, sex, nonverbal cognitive ability, or receptive/expressive language skills.

Participants were assessed on a video-based spoken narrative task, scored for both overall structure ("story grammar") and narrative coherence. A battery of tasks measuring mentalising and EF (working memory, inhibition, shifting, generativity) was also administered. Relationships between scores on cognitive measures and narrative performance were investigated using hierarchical linear regression analyses. Mentalising scores were found to significantly predict narrative performance across all outcome measures and were a stronger predictor than diagnostic group.

Diagnostic group predicted narrative structure ("story grammar") scores but not coherence scores. EF scores were not predictive of narrative ability in this sample. Mentalising skills appear to play an important role for both autistic and non-autistic adolescents in the generation of narrative structure and coherence within spoken accounts.