Fathers, who work in the technical field, are more likely to have children with an autism spectrum disorder, according to a University of Texas study.
For the study, the researchers divided participants (only fathers) based on two categories - those in non-people-oriented jobs (technical) or more people-oriented jobs (non-technical). The researchers found that engineer dads were two times more likely to have a child with an ASD. The chance was four times more for those in the finance field, while fathers in health care occupations faced the heaviest brunt. Their children were six times more likely to suffer from ASD.
However, the researchers did not find any strong association with mothers' jobs. However, children were at a heightened risk of developing severe form of autism when both their parents worked in the technical field.
"...we speculate that people who choose these technical fields do so because their brains are wired differently. They also tend to be more antisocial, prefer to focus on one thing at a time, and not talk a lot. We see those traits in autism too," said first author Aisha S. Dickerson, Ph.D. "It's also possible that some adults in the technical field are on the far end of the autism spectrum level themselves, but are undiagnosed as mild cases or don't need diagnoses at all," Examiner reports.
Dickerson said that medical professionals can consider parental occupation as one of the factors for autistic-like behaviors in children in future diagnosis.
The findings were presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research in Atlanta.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ASD associated with social, communication and behavioral challenges affects nearly 1 in every 68 children, mainly boys. Most of them are diagnosed with autism as an adult.
Autistic children find it difficult communicating their needs to others, express their feelings, meeting people, making friends and fail to comprehend others and their thoughts. They like following a routine life and resist changes, according to National Autistic Society.
Experts believe that the latest trend of finding partners at work might be behind the tripling of autistic cases since the 1960s. The cases have particularly skyrocketed in California's Silicon Valley, where partnerships between engineers, physicists and mathematicians have been increasingly observed, Newlwa reports.
