Maternal age and autistic children.

Maternal age was examined in 52 autistic children. Two matched control groups were also investigated. Both were matched with the autistic group on age, sex, and birth order. In addition, the first control group was matched with the autistic group according to IQ, while the second control group was composed of normally intelligent children and matched with the autistic group on SES. Maternal age did not differ between the three groups. It is concluded that uncontrolled social class factors might account for raised maternal age in middle class mothers of autistic children found in other studies.