5 ms·
(not the person you're replying to) The implication seems to be that the parents also exhibit traits of the autism spectrum, so it's hardly surprising that the
by s_kilk 10y ago
(not the person you're replying to)
The implication seems to be that the parents also exhibit traits of the autism spectrum, so it's hardly surprising that their kids would do the same.
- euyyn 10y agoIf it's that, without finer detail, it's also a weak argument. I behave like my mother in many things; doesn't mean I was genetically predisposed to, as plenty of behavior is acquired from the parents.
- i14ng 10y agoIf you're saying it could be the autistic behavior is learned rather than genetic, then I agree, you'd need a twin study to rule that out conclusively. However, when people say "the autism epidemic is environmental" they usually mean vaccines or chemicals or something, not "learned from the parents." Despite the quantity of autism research, most of it is quite bad and not that helpful on questions like this.
- kmonsen 10y agoAlso you share lots of environmental factors with your mother, like living in the same house, using the same car etc.
- i14ng 10y agoautism isn't adult-acquired though (literally by definition, DSM specifies that it must be present in childhood). So you'd need parent and child to share environmental factors during their respective infancies.
- gertef 10y ago"Inherited" can mean "genetic" or some other method of parent-child transmission (like learning) "Environmental" can include "parenting", but in this case the distinction is between "got it somehow from autistic-leaning parents" vs got from something else. Also, the claim that autism might be somehow learned from parents is extraordinary and not widely claimed or supported by existing evidence. It was a discredited theory of the past though, that "cold" parenting created austism.