Mothers' Ideas About Causes of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): Differences Over Time and by Household Experience With ASD.

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, May 2025: Mothers' Ideas About Causes of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): Differences Over Time and by Household Experience With ASD.
• Journal Article:
  Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
• Personal Author:
  Bradley, Chyrise B. ; Ashner, Marissa C. ; Kepner, Marti W. ; Garcia, Tanya P. ; Grosser, Kyle F. ; Hightshoe, Kristina ; Moody, Eric J. ; Reyes, Nuri ; Rosenberg, Steven A. ; Tapia, Amanda L. ; Daniels, Julie L.
• Description:
  To understand trends in mothers' causal ideas about autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that may be important in targeting education efforts for parents and healthcare providers, as these may be associated with healthcare choices. Data from the Study to Explore Early Development (SEED) was used to examine the causal ideas mothers had, sociodemographic characteristics associated with causal ideas, and whether reported ideas differed over time. SEED included 8307 mothers of pre-school children, with and without ASD, who completed a maternal phone interview between 2007 and 2020. Less than half of mothers (39.3%) offered a causal idea. The most frequently offered causal ideas were genetics, vaccines, environment, parent lifestyle issues, pre/peri-pregnancy maternal medical issues, labor/delivery experiences, and child diet. Some aspects of sociodemographic characteristics, particularly ethno-cultural background, were significantly associated with reporting several causal ideas. Odds of reporting vaccines decreased over time while odds of reporting genetics, parent lifestyle, maternal medical, or labor/delivery issues increased over time. There were significant differences in odds of reporting several causal ideas between those with and those without a child with ASD in the household. Causal ideas reported were consistent with prior research but important differences between those with and those without household ASD as well as significant time trends for certain causes were noted. Implications for public health communication and future research are discussed.
• Content Notes:
  Author manuscript
• Subjects:
  • Female
  • Child
  • Autism Spectrum Disorder
  • Health Communication
  • Health Personnel
  • Delivery of Health Care
  • Life Style
  • Vaccines
  • Parents
  • Diet
• Keywords:
  • Autism etiology (cause)
  • Parental perspectives
  • Lay beliefs
  • Ethnicity
  • Culture
  • Socioeconomic factors
• Source:
  Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, May 2025
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-025-06862-4
• ISSN:
  0162-3257 ; 1573-3432
• Pubmed ID:
  40402335
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC12766908
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  UL1TR002489/TR/NCATS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; U10DD000184/CC/CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U10DD000498/CC/CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U10 DD000901/DD/NCBDD CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U01DD001216/CC/CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U01DD001210/CC/CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U10 DD000182/DD/NCBDD CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U01DD001215/CC/CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U01 DD000748/DD/NCBDD CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U10 DD000183/DD/NCBDD CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U01000749/CC/CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U10 DD000180/DD/NCBDD CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U01 DD000746/DD/NCBDD CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U01000752/CC/CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U01DD001205/CC/CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U01000750/CC/CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U10DD000182/CC/CDC HHSUnited States/ ; UM1 TR004406/TR/NCATS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; U10 DD000181/DD/NCBDD CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U01000748/CC/CDC HHSUnited States/ ; UL1 TR002489/TR/NCATS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; U01 DD001216/DD/NCBDD CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U10 DD000184/DD/NCBDD CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U01 DD001210/DD/NCBDD CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U01 DD000498/DD/NCBDD CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U01 DD001205/DD/NCBDD CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U10DD000181/CC/CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U01 DD000749/DD/NCBDD CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U01 DD000752/DD/NCBDD CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U01 DD000750/DD/NCBDD CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U10DD000180/CC/CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U01 DD001215/DD/NCBDD CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U10DD000183/CC/CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U10DD000901/CC/CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U01000746/CC/CDC HHSUnited States/ ; 1U01DD001209/CC/CDC HHSUnited States/
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Pages in Document:
  22 pdf pages
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/261399/cdc_261399_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 734.35 KB]
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:166e7b87806b956c6fedaabfdea42850fa20bd86b9dd907e1f5c98a5defcaaccdeab0851efeca63969d2ed180ee07d194c3acb4de80dc6df540de1d0bb0f3220