We investigated the expression and understanding of jealousy in 16
high-functioning children with autism and 17 typically developing
children matched for IQ, chronological age, gender, and maternal
education. We examined the expression of jealousy via children's
behaviors, verbalizations, and affects demonstrated during two
jealousy-provoking triadic scenarios (drawing and playing) enacted
among the child in the experimental group (autism or typical), that
child's main caregiver (mostly mothers), and a familiar peer or
sibling. The two scenarios corresponded with the two types of jealousy
described in past studies: social-comparison jealousy (drawing
scenario) and social-relational jealousy (playing scenario). To tap
children's understanding, we asked them to identify jealousy from
a picture, to provide examples of times they felt jealous, and to offer
suggestions for coping with jealousy. The main results revealed that
children with autism expressed jealousy in situations similar to their
typical age mates but manifested it in different behaviors. Moreover,
children with autism revealed a less coherent understanding of the
feeling. We discuss the meaning of the gap between demonstrating and
understanding jealousy in light of the two central theoretical views
conceptualizing the core emotional deficit in children with autism.The Internal Grants Program of Bar-Ilan
University supported this research. The author extends special thanks
to the children and families who were willing to take part in this
study and expresses her appreciation to Dee B. Ankonina for her
editorial contribution and to Dov Har-Even for his statistical
assistance. The author would also like to thank Galit
Halevy–Tendler for her inspiring remarks, Cory Shulman for her
help in data collection, and the four anonymous reviewers for their
thought-provoking comments.