Sunday, May 30, 2010

Parents of kids with autism not more likely to divorce, study suggests

A new study by the Kennedy Krieger Institute, based on nearly 78,000 children from the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health, showed that divorce is not more common in families affected by autism!

The study was based on a snapshot -- the marital status of the survey participants at the time. It was not a study over time.

What I found interesting is that it's unclear where the the 80 percent divorce rate figure originated. Autism experts at the institute said they had not found any scientific research citing that number. (Another case of a myth perpetuated becoming a reality.)

You can read the compete article here.

2 comments:

Fielding J. Hurst said...

Glad someone actually looked at this issue. I tried and tried to find source of the 80% number to no avail. I suspect that those who divorce because of autism are offset by those that stay together because of autism. I could not get divorced even if I wanted too. :-)

walking said...

I am so glad that somebody is collecting data. It is not easy holding a marriage together while dealing with autism. It helped us grow closer together, but that is not the case with others . . .