Psychology
What does PDA mean?
An acronym used two ways: pathological demand avoidance (a demand-avoidant profile) and, in another field, public display of affection.
Definition
In psychology, PDA points at the profile Elizabeth Newson described in the 1980s in the UK — a 2003 paper with Le Maréchal and David (Archives of Disease in Childhood). An ordinary request arrives as a threat; the avoidance is strategic; the need for control weighs. It is a debated descriptor, more current in the UK and in the community.
The same letters, in another field, name public display of affection: affection in public. Same three letters, another world. People looking up Newson’s profile sometimes land on that second use.
Origin
The acronym is English. Newson described the profile in Nottingham in the 1980s and stuck pathological demand avoidance. The paper with Le Maréchal and David came out in 2003 in Archives of Disease in Childhood and asked for a distinction within developmental disorders. In another field the same letters are public display of affection.
History
From the UK the descriptor reached parent and autistic-adult TikTok. It remains debated, more current in the UK and in community speech than in universal manuals. The other PDA — affection in public — lives in dating, not in this cut.
How it emerged
The community needed a name for refusal that was not simple opposition. Newson stuck pathological demand avoidance; the 2003 paper took the profile into a paediatric journal.
Usage examples
A demand disguised as a question is still a demand for this profile.
An ordinary request arrives as a threat.
Translations
- pt PDA (esquiva de demanda)
- en PDA (demand avoidance)
- es PDA (evitación de demanda)
Synonyms
- Newson
- demand avoidance
- public display of affection
Acronyms
- PDA