Parent Beliefs About the Causes of Learning and Developmental Problems Among Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Results From a National Survey.
Katharine E Zuckerman, Olivia J Lindly, Brianna Sinche
PMID 27611353WHAT IT FOUND
Most parents of children with autism believed a genetic cause was at least somewhat likely, while lower-income parents more often believed exposures or injury caused their child's condition.
Asking about these beliefs may help family conversations.
Key findings
01The most common belief was that the child's condition was genetic or hereditary, with 66.3% of parents agreeing somewhat or definitely and 31.8% definitely agreeing.
02About 60.4% of parents believed in one of the causes at least somewhat, and 20.5% of parents holding at least one definite belief had multiple definite beliefs.
03In the survey, lower-income families were more likely to definitely believe a postnatal exposure caused the condition, and families with income 0-99% of the federal poverty level were more likely to definitely believe an accident, illness, or injury caused it.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The questions were about the child's learning and developmental conditions, not autism spectrum disorder specifically, so some parents may have been thinking about other diagnoses. The survey items were limited and sometimes vague, and they did not ask about beliefs such as immunizations, so parents may have held other causal beliefs. The diagnoses were based on parent report and were not verified. The sample was generally higher-income and English-speaking, which limits how well it represents all families, especially Latino families. The survey did not explain why parents held their beliefs or whether those beliefs changed treatment choices. Some income patterns were only seen in simple comparisons and were not significant in the adjusted models.
Declared interests
The Pathways Survey was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health with funds from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. No other conflicts of interest are reported in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these results as evidence that poverty, insurance, or family structure caused autism. The survey reports what parents believed about learning and developmental conditions, not what actually caused them.