Maternal Exposure to Childhood Abuse is Associated with Mate Selection: Implications for Autism in Offspring.
Andrea L Roberts, Kristen Lyall, Marc G Weisskopf
PMID 28393290WHAT IT FOUND
Mothers who reported severe childhood abuse were more likely to have a partner with high autistic traits.
Their children were also more likely to have ASD, and parents' autistic traits did not fully explain this link.
Key findings
01Among mothers of children without ASD, severe sexual abuse was associated with high paternal autistic traits (OR 3.98, 95% CI 1.29 to 12.27).
02Severe combined childhood abuse was associated with offspring ASD (OR 3.62, 95% CI 1.80 to 7.28).
03After adjustment for both maternal and paternal autistic traits, severe combined abuse remained associated with offspring ASD (OR 2.97, 95% CI 1.45 to 6.09), and parental autistic traits accounted for 21.2% of the association.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The analytic sample was smaller than the full study because mothers and fathers had to have returned autistic-trait forms. The study was case-control and oversampled mothers of children with ASD, so mate-selection analyses were done mainly in control mothers. Abuse and autistic traits were reported by participants, not clinically confirmed, and maternal traits were reported by a partner or relative. The sample was mostly white and professional, so results may not apply broadly. Parental autistic traits may not capture all genetic risk for ASD. Female-child analyses had only 40 ASD cases, so estimates were imprecise.
Declared interests
The authors reported no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that childhood abuse causes autism in offspring or that mate selection is a modifiable cause. The study is observational, used reported abuse and autistic traits, and could not separate genetic, mental-health, and social influences.