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Does Television Cause Autism?

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  • Michael Waldman
  • Sean Nicholson
  • Nodir Adilov

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Waldman & Sean Nicholson & Nodir Adilov, 2006. "Does Television Cause Autism?," NBER Working Papers 12632, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12632
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    Cited by:

    1. Fali Huang & Myoung‐jae Lee, 2009. "Does Television Viewing Affect Children'S Behaviour?," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(4), pages 474-501, October.
    2. Ariel R. Belasen & Solomon W. Polachek, 2009. "How Disasters Affect Local Labor Markets: The Effects of Hurricanes in Florida," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 44(1).
    3. Munasib, Abdul & Bhattacharya, Samrat, 2010. "Is the 'Idiot's Box' raising idiocy? Early and middle childhood television watching and child cognitive outcome," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 873-883, October.
    4. Samrat Bhattacharya & Abdul Munasib, 2008. "Effect of Television on Child Cognitive Outcome," Economics Working Paper Series 0804, Oklahoma State University, Department of Economics and Legal Studies in Business.
    5. Michael Waldman & Sean Nicholson & Nodir Adilov, 2012. "Positive and Negative Mental Health Consequences of Early Childhood Television Watching," NBER Working Papers 17786, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Ren Lu & Qing Song & Ting Xia & Daguo Lv & Torger Reve & Ze Jian, 2021. "Unpacking the U‐shaped relationship between related variety and firm sales: Evidence from Japan," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 100(5), pages 1136-1157, October.
    7. Bhatt, Rachana, 2010. "The impact of public library use on reading, television, and academic outcomes," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 148-166, September.

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    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health

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    1. Papers and articles using the American Time Use Survey (ATUS)

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