(no subject)

[solipsistnation]

"Does Television Cause Autism?"

ABSTRACT

Autism is currently estimated to affect approximately one in every
166 children, yet the cause or causes of the condition are not well
understood. One of the current theories concerning the condition
is that among a set of children vulnerable to developing the condition
because of their underlying genetics, the condition manifests itself
when such a child is exposed to a (currently unknown) environmental
trigger. In this paper we empirically investigate the hypothesis
that early childhood television viewing serves as such a trigger.

Using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' American Time Use Survey, we
first establish that the amount of television a young child watches
is positively related to the amount of precipitation in the child's
community. This suggests that, if television is a trigger for autism,
then autism should be more prevalent in communities that receive
substantial precipitation. We then look at county-level autism data
for three states California, Oregon, and Washington characterized
by high precipitation variability. Employing a variety of tests,
we show that in each of the three states (and across all three
states when pooled) there is substantial evidence that county autism
rates are indeed positively related to county-wide levels of
precipitation.

In our final set of tests we use California and
Pennsylvania data on children born between 1972 and 1989 to show,
again consistent with the television as trigger hypothesis, that
county autism rates are also positively related to the percentage
of households that subscribe to cable television. Our precipitation
tests indicate that just under forty percent of autism diagnoses
in the three states studied is the result of television watching
due to precipitation, while our cable tests indicate that approximately
seventeen percent of the growth in autism in California and
Pennsylvania during the 1970s and 1980s is due to the growth of
cable television. These findings are consistent with early childhood
television viewing being an important trigger for autism. We also
discuss further tests that can be conducted to explore the hypothesis
more directly.

Comments

[kadath.livejournal.com]

Heh. Talk about your house-of-cards correlation studies. I love sociological research.

[profesor.livejournal.com]

OTOH, it makes some sense. Check out the second to last paragraph of this recent article:

http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2006/10/16/pediatricians_criticize_use_of_tvs_in_hospital/?p1=MEWell_Pos3

"The pediatrics academy policy cautioning against viewing for babies and toddlers evolved from research that shows that the brain undergoes rapid growth during the first two years , including a natural selection process that prunes away unnecessary neural connections. Because watching television is a two- rather than three-dimensional experience, exposure tends to prune away the neurons responsible for social interaction and deductive reasoning. This could affect academic success."

I know little about autism, but one characteristic I do know about is that it is hard for autistic people to interact socially...

[kadath.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm not saying it's wrong, but correlation is a fragile reed, especially when they're using multiple different correlations to draw their conclusions.

underwater basketweaving ftw

[mpgalvin.livejournal.com]

what do you have against reeds?
isn't it often said that reeding is fundamental.

[brynndragon.livejournal.com]

So looking at books is also bad for toddlers? Those are also 2D experiences (with the exception of those pop-up books).

(I honestly can't tell if they're really saying that flat objects are bad, or that non-interactive experiences are bad, since I'm not sure what three dimensions of interactive experience they'd be refering to.)

[pawo.livejournal.com]

Talk about your house-of-cards correlation studies.

Yeah, I noticed that. On the other hand, from time to time I see the argument put forth (usually on television) that mercury-based vaccinations cause autism, using nothing else as evidence than the fact that autism rates increased around the same time that childhood vaccinations for multiple diseases became routine. Whenever I hear that argument, I think something along the lines of "by that reasoning, autism may equally be caused by eating microwave popcorn or watching Sesame Street." Finally someone has started to back up my speculation with research. :)

[tnh.livejournal.com]

"House of cards" doesn't begin to describe it:

1. Is looking at precipitation rates really the best way to determine the amount of television watched? I believe it varies far more with stuff like available parental caregiving time (i.e., overbusy parents use TV as a babysitter), population density (inner-city households will keep small children indoors, watching the TV, because there's no safe place for them to play), income levels (TV is cheap and easy), and parental attitudes.

2. Precipitation isn't the only kind of weather that keeps children indoors, watching the TV. The dry cold and high winds of the Upper Plains states will do just as well. So will the dry desert heat of the Southwest. If they have a low autism rate to match their low precipitation rates, something is wrong with the theory.

3. A huge number of environmental variables are responsive to precipitation levels. Demonstrating higher levels of autism in wetter areas doesn't demonstrate that television is the culprit. You could make a better case for mildew causing autism.

4. There's far more evidence that mercury is involved. The drug companies that continued using mercury compounds in their injected vaccines have been frantic to get out from under legal liability for our big upswing in autism cases. Perhaps I'm cynical, but "studies" like this one are awfully good for muddying the water.

[sauergeek.livejournal.com]

studies" like this one are awfully good for muddying the water

But that's the point of doing studies like this. The mercury connection is at best tenuous, and if there are other explanations as likely, why not explore them? The goal is to find out what causes autism, and to see what can be done about it -- not to find a good target for lawsuits.

[highreseuph0ria.livejournal.com]

I read an article in SEED: Science In Culture that suggested higher autism rates is a result of both parents being systematic thinkers. That when a man and a woman both show male-pattern brain activity, the risk of autism is much higher than normal, and because more people with these attributes are meeting and starting families (because they go to school or work in the same place) there are greater numbers of autistic children. Additionally, females with high testosterone are at higher risk of birthing an autistic child because the researcher, Simon Baron-Cohen, also believes autism to be triggered by high testosterone levels in the womb.

The study pretty much suggested autism is low-empathizing, high-systemizing, and an "extreme male brain."

SEED does not have their article online (last I checked) but this is the same guy:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20040107-000005.html

[palegreyminion.livejournal.com]

I'm so totally screwed, then.

[highreseuph0ria.livejournal.com]

I feel that.

[anitra.livejournal.com]

That doesn't bode well for any future children of mine...

[air-hadoken.livejournal.com]

Simon Baron-Cohen also believes autism to be triggered by high testosterone levels in the womb.

That could actually have a root in the nationwide sugar binge in the last few decades, then.

[z-gryphon.livejournal.com]

So it really is time for Wapner, then.

[dariusk.livejournal.com]

So I thought that was a fake abstract written by some troll until I clicked the link....

[quaintance.livejournal.com]

Haven't researched this, but a friend told me that the theory on this in her school district was that increased autism rates had to do with increased age at fathering, IE: old sperm. However, I'd first want to know WHY those particular men waited to become parents...