A brand new study confirms the findings of a preliminary study that was released in 2011. The new study shows that the income of a family that includes a child who has autism is significantly less than the income of families who don’t. This is due to a number of factors.
In 2011, there was a preliminary study that used data that came from a survey done by the United States government’s Medical Expenditures Panel. Researchers looked at information about families that included children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), about families who had children with other types of chronic health conditions, (such as asthma, ADHD, or cerebral palsy), and about families that had healthy children.
According to that study, mothers of kids who have an ASD earned around $6,000 less than moms who had children with other health conditions. They also earned about $11,500 less than the mothers who had healthy children. This was a preliminary study because it was had not yet gone through peer review, and had not yet been published in a medical journal.
A new study confirms what the preliminary study discovered. The new study has been published in the journal “Pediatrics”. The researchers analyzed data that came from nationally representative surveys of families. The surveys were conducted between 2002 and 2008.
The researchers found that families that are caring for a child who has autism earn around $18,000 less, on average, than do families of healthy children. The fathers’ employment status, and ability to earn, was not affected. However, the mothers’ ability to work, and to earn an income, was greatly affected.
One reason why families that include a child who has autism earn less money has to do with the intensive behavioral treatments that the child requires. It is expensive to get those necessary treatments, and not all states require health insurance companies to cover the cost of the treatment. Families may be paying as much as $50,000 a year out of pocket for the therapy.
Other factors have to do with employment. The study found that moms of kids who had an ASD earned about 35% less than did the moms of kids who had other chronic health issues. The moms of kids with autism also earned about 21% less than did the moms of healthy children.
The data showed that moms of kids with an ASD were less likely to be employed than were the mothers in the other groups. If they were employed, the ended up working an average of seven hours less than the mothers of healthy children. The less hours you work, the less you will earn.
Again, having a child who has an ASD did not affect the earning potential of the fathers. However, it did affect the earning potential of the mothers. Moms of kids who had an ASD earned 35% less than moms of kids who had other health issues, and 56% less than mothers of kids who had no health issues.
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