Social vulnerability and bullying in children with Asperger syndrome.

Children with Asperger syndrome (AS) have IQ within the normal range but specific impairments in theory of mind, social interaction and communication skills. The majority receive education in mainstream schools and research suggests they are bullied more than typically developing peers. The current study aimed to evaluate factors that predict bullying for such children and also to examine a new measure, the Social Vulnerability Scale (SVS). One hundred and thirty three parents of children with AS completed the SVS and of these 92 parents completed both the SVS and questionnaires measuring anxiety, anger, behaviour problems, social skills and bullying. Regression analyses revealed that these variables together strongly predicted bullying, but that social vulnerability was the strongest predictor. Test-re-test and internal consistency analyses of the SVS demonstrated sound psychometric properties and factor analyses revealed two sub-scales: gullibility and credulity. Limitations of the study are acknowledged and suggestions for future research discussed.