Autism spectrum disorder etiology: Lay beliefs and the role of cultural values and social axioms.
Macau college students think bad parenting causes autism, especially when they value mind-body holism.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team asked Macau college students why they think autism happens.
They used a paper survey. Students picked causes like genes, parenting style, or vaccines.
They also measured how much each student values mind-body holism — the idea that mind and body are one.
What they found
Most students blamed parents, not genes.
The more a student believed in mind-body holism, the more they blamed parenting.
How this fits with other research
Gillespie-Lynch et al. (2019) later asked students in Lebanon and the USA about stigma instead of causes. Both studies show culture shapes autism views, but Xin looks at cause beliefs while Kristen looks at prejudice.
Somerton et al. (2022) found Kazakhstani professionals also hold wrong etiology ideas. The pattern repeats: both students and trained staff carry myths, not just the public.
Block et al. (2026) stretched the idea further. They showed that culture even changes how people rate autistic traits on questionnaires. Together the papers say: culture touches every layer — cause labels, stigma, and trait scoring.
Why it matters
If parents meet a team that quietly blames their parenting, trust drops and cooperation fades.
You can’t erase a belief you don’t know exists. Ask caregivers, “What do you think causes autism?” Listen, then share current science. A two-minute chat can realign the whole program.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Recent research examining the explanations given by the public (i.e. lay beliefs) for autism spectrum disorder often reveals a reasonably accurate understanding of the biogenetic basis of the disorder. However, lay beliefs often manifest aspects of culture, and much of this work has been conducted in western cultures. In this study, 215 undergraduate university students in Macau, a Special Administrative Region of China, completed self-report measures assessing two beliefs concerning autism spectrum disorder etiology: (1) a belief in parental factors and (2) a belief in genetic factors. Potential correlates of lay beliefs were sought in culture-specific values, and more universal social axioms. Participants were significantly more likely to endorse parenting, relative to genetic factors, as etiological. A perceived parental etiology was predicted by values of mind-body holism. Beliefs in a parental etiology were not predicted by values assessing collectivism, conformity to norms, a belief in a family's ability to obtain recognition through a child's achievement, or interpersonal harmony, nor by the social axioms measured (e.g. social cynicism, reward for application, social complexity, fate control, and religiosity). Beliefs in a genetic etiology were not predicted by either culture-specific values or social axioms. Implications of the current results are discussed.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2016 · doi:10.1177/1362361315602372