People with higher autistic traits tend to avoid positive relationship-maintenance tactics

Key Points:

• A study published in Evolutionary Psychology found that individuals with higher autistic-like traits (ALTs) tend to avoid positive, affectionate behaviors in romantic relationships and may use more cost-inflicting tactics when age is controlled for.
• The research, led by Andrzej Łukasik from the University of Rzeszow, showed that ALTs strongly predict insecure attachment styles—both anxious and avoidant—which influence how people maintain their relationships.
• Attachment styles, rather than broad evolutionary reproductive strategies, were key in explaining relationship behaviors; anxious attachment correlated with mixed mate retention tactics, while avoidant attachment was linked to reduced benefit-provisioning behaviors.
• ALTs were only weakly related to life history reproductive strategies (fast vs. slow), suggesting that traditional evolutionary models may not fully explain the complexities of modern romantic relationships.
• The study relied on self-reported, cross-sectional data, limiting causal conclusions and highlighting potential measurement overlaps between autistic-like traits and social anxiety, indicating the need for further research with refined methods.