Season of Birth Effects in Autism Spectrum Disorders

One factor that is investigated as a possible clue to etiological factors in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) is season of birth. Season of birth effects could be the result of temperature, toxins, dietary changes, viral infections, and cultural or social factors that change seasonally (Bolton, Pickles, Harrington, Macdonald, & Rutter, 1992). A number of studies have looked for season of birth effects in ASD with no conclusive results. The current study analyzed season of birth effects in a sample of 441 children diagnosed with ASD. Analysis was also repeated after excluding prematurely born children from the data. Level of functioning and gender effects were tested by breaking the sample into a number of sub-groups. While there were no season of birth effects in the sample of all children with ASD when compared to children without ASD in either the entire sample or the non-premature sample, there were significant differences in the season of birth of low functioning children with ASD when compared with high functioning children with ASD.

Cross-Nativity Marriages, Gender, and Human Capital Levels of Children

Because the demographic composition of todays immigrants to the US differs so much from those of natives, immigrants may be less likely to socially integrate into U.S. society, and specically less likely to marry natives. This paper explores the relationship between immigrants' marriage patterns and the academic outcomes of their children. Using 2000 Census data, it is found that while marital decisions of foreign born females do not affect their children's academic success, foreign born males that marry foreign born females are less likely to have children that are high school dropouts. These relationships remain after using various methods to control for the endogeneity of the intermarriage decision. Although we cannot disentangle whether the benefits of same-nativity marriages for foreign born males arise from a more efficient technology in human capital production within the household or from increased participation in ethnic networks, it does appear that immigrant males have better educated children when they marry immigrant females.