Cogprints

Is Autism Statistically Linked to Early Non-Maternal Child Care?

McDowell, Doctor Maxson J. (2004) Is Autism Statistically Linked to Early Non-Maternal Child Care? [Journal (On-line/Unpaginated)] (In Press)

Full text available as:

[img] HTML
16Kb

Abstract

Autism represents a pervasive cascade of developmental (psychological) failures. Therefore the primary deficit in autism, the necessary and sufficient cause, should be a very early psychological failure. Genes and other biological factors linked to autism are neither necessary nor sufficient to cause autism. Nor could biological factors have changed quickly enough to account for recent changes in the incidence of autism. Biological factors must work indirectly, by increasing the probability of the primary deficit. Brain differences may be secondary to early social deprivation. The personality, like all other dynamic systems, must self-organize from a few simple components. I summarize in this paper some of the evidence that a very early step in the self-organization of the personality is the internalization of the image of the mother's eyes. I propose that failure to internalize that image is the primary deficit in autism. Recent dramatic increases in the incidence of autism coincide with dramatic increases in the very early use of non-maternal child care including TV, video and computer games. Reduced exposure to the mother's gaze would mitigate against internalizing the image of the mother's eyes. My hypothesis predicts that autism is statistically linked to early non-maternal child care. This prediction has implications for preventing autism. It should be confirmed or refuted by the current Norwegian-American study, The Autism Birth Cohort.

Item Type:Journal (On-line/Unpaginated)
Keywords:Autism, cause, cascade, psychological failure, non-maternal childcare, image, eyes, self-organization, early, infant, television, video, primary deficit
Subjects:Psychology > Developmental Psychology
ID Code:3747
Deposited By: McDowell, Doctor Maxson J.
Deposited On:10 Aug 2004
Last Modified:11 Mar 2011 08:55

References in Article

Select the SEEK icon to attempt to find the referenced article. If it does not appear to be in cogprints you will be forwarded to the paracite service. Poorly formated references will probably not work.

Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Skinner, R., Martin, J., & Clubley, E. (2001). The autism spectrum quotient (AQ): evidence from Asperger syndrome/high-functioning autism, males and females, scientists and mathematicians. J. Autism Developmental Disorder, 31(1): 5-17.

Byrd, R. (2002). Report to the legislature on the principle findings from The epidemiology of autism in California: a comprehensive pilot study.

Hobson, R. P., Lee, A. & Brown, R. (1999). Autism and congenital blindness. J. Autism Developmental Disorders, 29(1): 45-56.

Holland, J. H. (1998). Emergence from chaos to order. Reading MA: Perseus.

Manning, A. 2004. U.S. will pay for study to seek cause of autism. USA Today, February 24. www.usatoday.com/news/health/2004-02-24-autism-usat_x.htm

McDowell, M. J. 2002. The image of the mother's eye: autism and early narcissistic injury. http://cogprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/archive/00002593.

_____ 2004. Autism, early narcissistic injury and self-organization: a role for the image of the mother's eyes? J. Analytical Psychol., 49(4): 495-520. (Also online at http://home.earthlink.net/~maxmcdowell/eye22.html.)

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (2003). Study of early childcare and youth development: does amount of time spent in child care predict socioemotional adjustment during the transition to kindergarten? Child Development, 74(4): 976-1005.

Pollack, R. 1997. The Creation of Dr B.: a Biography of Bruno Bettleheim. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Rideout, V. J., Vandewater, E. A., & Wartella, E. A. (2003). Zero to six: electronic media in the lives of infants, toddlers and preschoolers. Report #3378, Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. http://www.kff.org/entmedia/3378.cfm

Rodier, P. M. (2000). The early origins of autism. Scientific American, February: 56-63.

Trepagnier, C. (1998). Autism etiology: a face-processing perspective. Brain and Cognition, 37(1):158-60.

Metadata

Repository Staff Only: item control page

Cogprints is powered by EPrints 3 which is developed by the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton. More information and software credits.