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In 2007 I started a topic on the divorce myth. The topic got to be five pages long, a mix of information and comments. I decided to start fresh and transfer the information here. I always hear people mention really dismal statistics about the divorce rate for couples who have a child with autism. Because I'm a natural-born skeptic, I've tried to find out how they came up with this 80% divorce rate. This myth is BUSTED. Here is what I've found: The Easter Seals study "Living with Autism" On page 39 of the study it shows that couples whose children have autism have a lower divorce rate than couples with kids who don't have special needs! That applies for both autism, PDD-NOS and Asperger. On page 40 of the study it says that in couples that are divorced, sole custody is chosen by half of them. It doesn't say how that compares with couples that don't have children with special needs. http://www.easterseals.com/site/DocServer/Study_FINAL_Harris _12.4.08_Compressed.pdf?docID=83143 Three studies on autism and divorce/single parenthood "Siegal (2001) suggests that the divorce rate for couples with a child with autism is the same as that for the rest of the population. This figure, however, only applies to the USA and has not yet been corroborated. However, in a study by Bromley et al (2002), one in three families were lone parents. The Autism Awareness Week report (Broach et al, 2003) showed a lone parent rate of 17%, compared with a 10% national average for the UK." Source: http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=307&a=3342 A study on divorce among adults with Asperger I've always wondered if the purportedly high divorce rate among parents of children of autism was partly due to undiagnosed autism in the husband or wife. I learned today that a Dutch study showed a 80% divorce rate for adults with Aspergers. I lost the link, but if anyone is looking for tips on Asperger syndrome in marriage, there's a brochure here: http://www.aspia.org.au/pdf/AS_Marriage_brochure.pdf - "Asperger's Syndrome in Marriage" by Asperger Syndrome Partner Information Australia. http://www.kmarshack.com/publications/as/index.html - a book on the subject, read a sample chapter here. Three blogs on the subject http://autismblog.easterseals.com/divorce-and-disability-is- it-all-a-lie/ - Blog "Divorce and disability: is it all a lie?" http://www.autismvox.com/divorce-a-common-side-effect-of-aut ism/ - Autism Vox blog. http://debstake.wordpress.com/2008/10/04/the-gifts-of-our-pa rents-how-they-help-our-children/ - another autism blog. Divorce and ADHD (might be comparable). The study included nearly 500 couples - 286 had a child with ADHD and 206 had a child without this condition. The researchers found that couples with a child with ADHD were almost twice as likely to divorce before their child turned 8 years old. After that age, however, divorce rates were similar in both groups of parents. "Families that 'survive' through that age, perhaps because they are low on all of the risk factors, apparently will make it through the rest of the child's childhood," Dr. William E. Pelham Jr., one of the researchers on the study, said in a statement. Other factors associated with divorce in couples with a child with ADHD included antisocial behavior in the father; a maternal and paternal history of divorce; parent substance abuse; and depression in the mother. Source: http://www.babycenter.com/204_divorce-rates-higher-when-chil d-has-adhd_10302370.bc Topic on our forum where people have shared their experiences http://www.autism-pdd.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=14671&am p;am p;PN=1&TPN=5 |
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