Table 2.

Parents’ Perceived Causes of ASDs.

Parents’ Perceived Causes	Frequency	Percentage	Illustrative Quote
Genetic factors	17	40.5%	“I think that there is a genetic predisposition that is happening to families. And so yes I think that there is something genetic that’s at least in our family.”
Environmental factors	13	31.0%	“I think there are pollutants that are a part of it and maybe proximity to certain types of industry can add to it.”
Problems during the mother’s pregnancy and delivery	10	23.8%	“Her [the child with ASD’s] tongue is a little bit too malformed and her jaw is malformed. So I’m thinking something happened to her when I was pregnant.”
Vaccination	7	16.7%	“I really think it’s vaccine related because in my family and my husband’s family you know family history, we don’t we have anybody you know in that category.”
Children’s non-ASD-related health problems	3	7.1%	“We wonder if there was possibly some kind of a brain stroke.”
Parental age at the time of pregnancy	2	4.8%	“The father’s age was older. The people I can point out right now were all over 40 then.”
Spiritual or religious factors	1	2.4%	“I am not sure if you have. It can’t be studied scientifically. If we are talking about reasons, in terms of religious beliefs, I think it’s a curse from ancestors.”

Note: Four participants (9.5%) were unsure about or did not know the causes of ASD. The total percentage was more than 100%, as some parents identified more than one contributing factor for their children with ASD.