PSYCHOLOGICAL MECHANISMS OF LIFE ANTICIPATION IN ADULTS WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER: AN INTEGRATIVE THEORETICAL MODEL
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32782/3041-2005/2026-2.43Keywords:
life anticipation, autism spectrum disorder, intolerance of uncertainty, executive functions, episodic future thinking, prospective memory, predictive processing, psychosemantics of the futureAbstract
Research on life anticipation in adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) remains insufficiently developed in contemporary psychology despite its clear relevance to adaptive functioning, planning, intention maintenance, and regulation of everyday behaviour. The aim of the article is to provide a theoretical justification for an integrative causal-oriented model of the psychological mechanisms that may determine the specific features of anticipatory processes in adults with ASD, and to identify potential mediators and moderators for further empirical verification. The methodological basis of the study is a narrative systematic review of sources indexed in Scopus and Web of Science in 2010–2025, using the logic of causal-oriented analysis as a tool for conceptual organisation of theoretical assumptions. As a result, an integrative model is proposed in which intolerance of uncertainty is treated as a probable central mediator between ASD symptom severity and parameters of future-oriented cognition. Three hypothetical pathways are distinguished: through executive dysfunction, emotional dysregulation and alexithymia, and through personal-semantic limitations related to self-concept, autobiographical memory, and the semantic organisation of the image of the future. Generalised evidence from contemporary studies indicates reduced mental time travel, episodic future thinking, and prospective intention maintenance in ASD. At the same time, it is emphasised that these mechanisms do not exhaust the construct of life anticipation but represent only its separate components within a broader psychosemantic system of future representations. It is concluded that the proposed model is theoretically grounded, conceptually coherent, and suitable for further verification through structural modelling, while group status is considered a potential moderator of the strength of associations within the model. The paper also outlines the prospect of operationalising the construct through psychosemantic methodology and multi-group structural modelling in future research.
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