Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39902495›Full record

ArticleAutism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research2025

Expanding Research on Contextual Factors in Autism Research: What Took Us So Long?

Marsha Mailick, Teresa Bennett, Leann Smith DaWalt, Maureen S Durkin, Gordon Forbes, Patricia Howlin, Catherine Lord, Anat Zaidman-Zait, Lonnie Zwaigenbaum, Vanessa Bal and 11 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Trial
  2. Review
  3. Review
  4. Review
  5. Parenting Stress and Stressful Life Events Among Caregivers of Toddler Siblings of Autistic and Non-Autistic Children.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2026
    Article
  6. Article
  7. Methodological challenges and opportunities when studying the course of autism.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2025
    Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

21 authors.

Marsha MailickWaisman Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-6548-2096
Teresa BennettHHS/McMaster Children's Hospital, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.
Leann Smith DaWaltWaisman Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
Maureen S DurkinWaisman Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
Gordon ForbesKings College, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK.ORCID 0000-0001-8662-3636
Patricia HowlinKings College, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK.
Catherine LordUniversity of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-5633-1253
Anat Zaidman-ZaitTel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
Lonnie ZwaigenbaumUniversity of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.ORCID 0000-0001-9607-0799
Vanessa BalRutgers University-New Brunswick, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-0750-823X
Somer BishopUniversity of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.
Chung-Hsin ChiangNational Chengchi University Taipei, Taipei City, Taiwan.
Adriana DiMartinoChild Mind Institute, New York, New York, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-6927-290X
Christine M FreitagUniversity Hospital Frankfurt, Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt, Germany.
Stelios GeorgiadesHHS/McMaster Children's Hospital, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.
Matthew HollocksKings College, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-9513-6917
Meng-Chuan LaiCenter for Addition and Mental Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.ORCID 0000-0002-9593-5508
Matthew J MaennerCenters for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Patrick S PowellCenters for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-0251-5721
Julie Lounds TaylorVanderbilt University Medical Center Nashville, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Alycia HalladayAutism Science Foundation, New York, New York, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-8264-8753

Funding

Waisman Center Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research CenterP50HD105353 · NICHD · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI Qiang Chang · 2021 to 2026
$8.5M
FMR1 Premutation Phenotypes in Population-Based & Clinically-Ascertained SamplesR01HD082110 · NICHD · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI Leann Smith DaWalt, MARSHA RUTH MAILICK · 2015 to 2026
$5.1M
A Longitudinal Study of Employment and Educational Instability for Young Adults with Autism Spectrum DisorderR01MH121438 · NIMH · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · PI DAWALT, LEANN SMITH, TAYLOR, JULIE LOUNDS · 2020 to 2024
$3.7M
Autism Science Foundation 14-100Intramural CDC HHS CC999999Laidlaw Chair in Patient-Centered CareNational Institute of Child Health and Human Development P50HD105353National Institute of Child Health and Human Development R01 HD082110-06NICHD NIH HHS P50 HD105353NICHD NIH HHS R01 HD082110NIH HHS R01 MH121438NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH121438Pathways in ASD StudyPatient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Although autism is a childhood-onset neurodevelopmental disorder, its features change across the life course due to a combination of individual and contextual influences. However, the influence of contextual factors on development during childhood and beyond is less frequently studied than individual factors such as genetic variants that increase autism risk, IQ, language, and autistic features. Potentially important contexts include the family environment and socioeconomic status, social networks, school, work, services, neighborhood characteristics, environmental events, and sociocultural factors. Here, we articulate the benefit of studying contextual factors, and we offer selected examples of published longitudinal autism studies that have focused on how individuals develop within context. Expanding the autism research agenda to include the broader context in which autism emerges and changes across the life course can enhance understanding of how contexts influence the heterogeneity of autism, support strengths and resilience, or amplify disabilities. We describe challenges and opportunities for future research on contextual influences and provide a list of digital resources that can be integrated into autism data sets. It is important to conceptualize contextual influences on autism development as main exposures, not only as descriptive variables or factors needing statistical control.

Indexed as

Autistic DisorderBiomedical ResearchSocial EnvironmentChildHumansLongitudinal Studiesautismbehaviorcontextuallongitudinaloutcomesresearch

Identifiers

PMID39902495
PMCPMC12015804

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.