Add one more concern for families with children on the autism spectrum: divorce.

Any parents of young children are usually stressed and strapped for time, leaving them with little energy to devote to their spouses. As such, divorce rates are highest when a couple has young children. However, once the children enter their teens and become more self-sufficient, the divorce rate tapers off.

However, a child with an autism spectrum disorder requires extra attention, not only throughout their childhood, but also into their teens and even adult lives. These children also tend to have communication difficulties and engage in repetitive behaviors, which can add even more stress for the parents. Their parents are never given that "break" that other parents experience as their children grow up. This is probably why parents of an autistic child are sometimes told that the divorce rate for couples in their situation is as high as 80%.

To see if this extreme statistic held any truth, researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Georgia State University and Boston University examined 391 families participating in the Adolescents and Adults With Autism study. These families were compared to other families with children whose development was considered normal. The study matched the families based on the age, sex and birth order of the child with autism and the age, education and ethnicity of the mother.

The research revealed that the divorce rate for couples raising a child with an ASD was 23.5%. This was almost twice as high as the rate for the control families, which was 14%. When a couple whose child had an ASD also had one or more older children, the risk of divorce was even higher. Also, the study revealed that the younger the mother was when her child with an ASD was born, the more likely her marriage was to end in divorce. The age of the mother when her child was born did not impact her likelihood to divorce in the control group. 

Interestingly, the divorce rate for couples with an autistic child remained steady until their child reached the age of 30 before it began to decline. The same was not true for the control families, whose risk for divorce began to decline once their children turned eight. By the time the control families' children were 26, the divorce risk was "virtually nonexistent."

 The researchers were not surprised that divorce rates for families in the ASD group were nearly twice as high, as this result was consistent with a previous study using children with ADHD. They were surprised, however, that families with more than one autistic child and families whose child had more severe or earlier onset autism did not have higher divorce rates.

So, what can parents of autistic children do to keep their marriages intact? The researchers encouraged parents of a child with ASD to find a strategy that allows them to communicate effectively and to concentrate on supporting their spouse by setting aside alone time.  

Although these results seem depressing, researchers asked parents of autistic children to take heart and stay positive. In spite of everything, more than 75% of these marriages do stay intact. Chances are their marriage will survive. 

Resource: Los Angeles Times "Another risk for families dealing with autism spectrum disorders - divorce" 8/4/10