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.
Keywords: Autism etiology (cause); Culture; Ethnicity; Lay beliefs; Parental perspectives; Socioeconomic factors.
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