U. S. researchers have found that the parents of grown children with autism are more likely to divorce than parents of typically developing children.

Published in the Journal of Family Psychology, the study found that contrary to conventional wisdom, young parents of children with autism do not have a greater risk of divorce, but once the children grow up, divorce is more likely.

The study compared 391 couples, the parents of teen and adult children with autism, to a sample drawn from another large longitudinal study, said lead author Sigan Hartley, a University of Wisconsin-Madison assistant professor.

Hartley said in a statement, "There seems to be a prolonged vulnerability for divorce in parents of children with autism. Typically, if couples can survive the early child-rearing years, parenting demands decrease and there is often less strain on the marriage. However, parents of children with autism often continue to live with and experience high parenting demands into their child's adulthood, and thus marital strain may remain high in these later years."
(With Inputs from Agencies)