# Paracetamol, Autism and ADHD: What the Latest Research Really Says

An episode of [Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1082244480), 28 Oct 2026, 17 min.

Audio: https://mgln.ai/e/187/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/fa326977-3de5-4283-9b8b-af3500c58607/b69b2795-5503-4de1-ac91-af460017906e/aa87fa90-7862-4edf-af4e-b4e70080145c/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=a05f1702-0c0e-4b0f-8014-af460017907c

Can paracetamol during pregnancy increase the risk of autism or ADHD? Justin and Kylie Coulson unpack four provocative studies challenging what we think we know about pregnancy, relationships, gender differences and rising neurodevelopmental diagnoses. From a major study examining paracetamol use during pregnancy to the possible reasons autism and ADHD diagnoses are increasing, this episode separates research findings from assumptions and explores what the evidence actually tells us. KEY POINTS • What a large study found about paracetamol use during pregnancy and autism or ADHD risk. • Why men and women may appear to multitask differently. • How pessimism about relationships may affect young women's expectations for happiness. • Whether broader diagnostic criteria help explain rising autism and ADHD diagnoses. QUOTE OF THE EPISODE “Science isn't about convenience.” RESOURCES MENTIONED • Prenatal Acetaminophen or Paracetamol Use and the Risk of Autism and ADHD Among Sibling-Matched Cohorts, published in JAMA Internal Medicine. • Research published in Psychological Research on gender differences in multitasking. • Suzanne Venker's discussion of heteropessimism on the Modern Wisdom podcast with Chris Williamson. • Institute for Family Studies article on heteropessimism and relationship outcomes. • Changes in Genetic Contributions to ASD and ADHD by Year of Diagnosis, published in JAMA Psychiatry. ACTION STEPS FOR PARENTS • Look at the research behind controversial health claims before accepting or dismissing them. • Discuss questions about medication during pregnancy with your healthcare professional. • Focus on finding healthy relationships built on kindness, trust and mutual support. • Remember that research findings are part of an evolving evidence base, especially when it comes to autism and ADHD. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:05] Speaker 1: Oh boy, do we have a doozy for you on
[0:07] Speaker 1: the Happy Families podcast today. It's a doctor's desk episode,
[0:11] Speaker 1: and we are so glad to have you along. Just
[0:14] Speaker 1: a heads up, science is not about telling us what
[0:17] Speaker 1: we want to hear, nor is science about helping us
[0:20] Speaker 1: to necessarily feel comfortable. It's about answering questions, and sometimes
[0:24] Speaker 1: those questions are hard to answer. Today, we're talking about
[0:28] Speaker 1: some very difficult questions, including one of the most controversial
[0:31] Speaker 1: things that have been said in the last couple of
[0:32] Speaker 1: years by a US president, President Trump. said that there
[0:36] Speaker 1: is a relationship between autism diagnosis and the use of acetaminophen,
[0:42] Speaker 1: otherwise known as paracetamol. There has been a brand new
[0:45] Speaker 1: study published that looks into whether he could be right
[0:49] Speaker 1: or wrong. We're going to talk about that shortly, as
[0:51] Speaker 1: well as something called heteropessimism. We're also looking at whether
[0:55] Speaker 1: or not men talk less or women talk less during
[0:59] Speaker 1: multitasking and more. Like I said, provocative, controversial topics. but
[1:03] Speaker 1: all in the name of science so that we can
[1:05] Speaker 1: actually live better lives and help our families to do
[1:09] Speaker 1: better and flourish and thrive. Stay with us. We're going
[1:12] Speaker 1: to answer that more next on the Happy Families podcast. Hello,
[1:18] Speaker 1: welcome to a controversial episode of the Happy Families podcast.
[1:22] Speaker 1: Happy Families podcast is where you get real parenting solutions
[1:24] Speaker 1: every single day. So let's download a parenting podcast in
[1:27] Speaker 1: Australia where Justin and Kylie Coulson, the parents of six daughters,
[1:30] Speaker 1: And Kylie, you're going to sort of guide me through this.
[1:32] Speaker 1: And I haven't told you about any of these studies
[1:34] Speaker 1: other than those quick headlines. I want to start today's pod, though,
[1:38] Speaker 1: by highlighting the following. Science isn't about convenience. And when
[1:42] Speaker 1: somebody says something that's empirically testable, we need to be
[1:46] Speaker 1: able to go out and empirically test it. So, for example,
[1:49] Speaker 1: when Donald Trump says.
[1:51] Speaker 2: Effective immediately, the FDA will be notifying physicians that the
[1:55] Speaker 2: use of.
[1:57] Speaker 2: Well, let's see how we say that. Acetaminophen, acetaminophen, is
[2:06] Speaker 2: that okay? Which is basically commonly known as Tylenol during
[2:11] Speaker 2: pregnancy can be associated with a very increased risk of autism.
[2:19] Speaker 2: So taking Tylenol is not good.
[2:24] Speaker 1: The taking paracetamol during pregnancy may be associated with your
[2:28] Speaker 1: child's ADHD or autism risk. Most people scream and shout
[2:35] Speaker 1: and jump up and down, but this is an empirical,
[2:37] Speaker 1: testable statement. We can actually go and look at data
[2:41] Speaker 1: and find out if he's right or not. And as
[2:43] Speaker 1: ludicrous as it might sound, I actually think that there's
[2:46] Speaker 1: value in going and doing the studies and finding out,
[2:48] Speaker 1: regardless of whether you like the guy or not. Because
[2:51] Speaker 1: if somebody who was more credible said it, then perhaps
[2:54] Speaker 1: people would take it more seriously. So a few of
[2:57] Speaker 1: the things we're talking about today are actually really challenging topics,
[3:00] Speaker 1: and they are the kinds of things that can upset people.
[3:03] Speaker 1: But we're going to do it anyway, not because we're
[3:04] Speaker 1: trying to upset people, but because these are studies that
[3:06] Speaker 1: are being done with people asking reasonable questions, even if
[3:10] Speaker 1: we don't think they're reasonable people, about why life is
[3:14] Speaker 1: the way that it is.
[3:16] Speaker 3: So our first article today that you wanted to talk
[3:19] Speaker 3: about is men talk less than women when multitasking. And
[3:25] Speaker 3: you're laughing. Yeah. But this is men are from Mars,
[3:28] Speaker 3: women are from Venus stuff.
[3:30] Speaker 1: I kind of thought we should start with the light
[3:32] Speaker 1: one first. Oh, by the way, we're doing four in
[3:34] Speaker 1: the doctor's desk episode where we normally only do one.
[3:36] Speaker 1: So we've only got two minutes for each one, which
[3:38] Speaker 1: means that we can't kind of get caught up in
[3:40] Speaker 1: all the provocation and controversy. So this is a study
[3:44] Speaker 1: that was published in Psychological Research just a little while ago,
[3:48] Speaker 1: a couple of months ago. And I don't know how
[3:50] Speaker 1: to pronounce the researchers' names. So I'm just going to
[3:52] Speaker 1: tell you what the study was and what they found.
[3:54] Speaker 1: And then you can ask me questions or we can
[3:56] Speaker 1: move on to the next one. So contrary to the
[3:59] Speaker 1: widespread stereotype that women are better at multitasking than men,
[4:04] Speaker 1: I mean, everyone jokes about that, right? I mean, can
[4:07] Speaker 1: I do one thing at a time? There have not
[4:10] Speaker 1: been any consistent gender differences in multitasking abilities found between
[4:16] Speaker 1: males and females.
[4:18] Speaker 3: Thus far.
[4:19] Speaker 1: So these researchers developed this really novel multitasking paradigm that
[4:23] Speaker 1: consisted of five tasks that were designed to simulate real
[4:26] Speaker 1: life scenarios where a person might be expected to multitask.
[4:31] Speaker 1: First study, 41 men, 37 females, the multitaskers, all performed
[4:37] Speaker 1: similarly in all the tasks except a conversation task, which
[4:40] Speaker 1: males ignored more than twice as much as females. And
[4:44] Speaker 1: then to figure out whether or not that gender difference
[4:46] Speaker 1: was noticeable to others, they did a second study with
[4:49] Speaker 1: 160 people observing, not aware of what's going on, watching
[4:53] Speaker 1: videos of the multitaskers, rating their appearance. Females were rated
[4:57] Speaker 1: as being more in control of the task. They were
[4:59] Speaker 1: rated as performing better and they were rated as being
[5:02] Speaker 1: less stressed than males. Importantly, these ratings were strongly influenced
[5:07] Speaker 1: by the conversation task performance. Therefore, Kylie, this study showed
[5:12] Speaker 1: not only a sex difference in multitasking performance, but also
[5:16] Speaker 1: that this difference impacts how multitaskers are perceived by others,
[5:20] Speaker 1: providing a potential explanation for the development of a stereotype
[5:22] Speaker 1: that women are better at multitasking than men, because men,
[5:26] Speaker 1: when they're asked to multitask, stop talking and just concentrate
[5:29] Speaker 1: on the task, whereas women are able to keep on
[5:32] Speaker 1: talking while they're doing the other thing.
[5:37] Speaker 3: This feels like a bit of a no-brainer.
[5:39] Speaker 1: I can't believe you said that.
[5:41] Speaker 3: No, no, no. Just like I said, men are from
[5:45] Speaker 3: Mars and women are from Venus. There's been this ongoing
[5:48] Speaker 3: dialogue around the fact that women talk more than men,
[5:51] Speaker 3: for starters, right? But secondly, to me, this is all
[5:54] Speaker 3: about relationship. And for women, everything we do is about relationship.
[6:01] Speaker 3: And so the dialogue and the conversation that takes place
[6:04] Speaker 3: is part of the relationship. Well, let's get straight into
[6:08] Speaker 3: the next one. This is Donald Trump's big revelation.
[6:15] Speaker 2: Acetaminophen, which is basically commonly known as Tylenol during pregnancy
[6:21] Speaker 2: can be associated with a very increased risk of autism.
[6:28] Speaker 1: So I was incensed when I heard him say this.
[6:30] Speaker 1: I don't like the man at all. I don't believe
[6:32] Speaker 1: that anyone is either good or bad. People are a
[6:34] Speaker 1: bit of everything. And I know that some people who
[6:36] Speaker 1: listen to the podcast love the guy and some people
[6:38] Speaker 1: who listen to the podcast absolutely can't stand the guy.
[6:40] Speaker 1: When I heard him say that parents, mom's taking paracetamol
[6:43] Speaker 1: while they're pregnant is what's causing ADHD and autism. I
[6:47] Speaker 1: actually went off my tree. I was talking to some friends.
[6:50] Speaker 1: I completely lost my Nana. I don't know. Is it
[6:53] Speaker 1: lost my Nana? Is that what I'm supposed to say?
[6:54] Speaker 1: I lost my Nana. And the friend that I was
[6:58] Speaker 1: talking to said, well, hang on a sec. This is
[6:59] Speaker 1: a testable hypothesis. Like instead of, Letting your personal feelings
[7:04] Speaker 1: about the character of the man influence your opinion of
[7:06] Speaker 1: what he said. Why don't you go and have a
[7:08] Speaker 1: look at what the research says? And I said, well, Chris,
[7:10] Speaker 1: there isn't any research on this. Turns out there is.
[7:13] Speaker 1: There was a study that was recently conducted in Hong Kong.
[7:17] Speaker 1: It was published in the JAMA Internal Medicine Women's Health section.
[7:23] Speaker 1: It's called Prenatal Acetaminophen or Paracetamol Use and the Risk
[7:27] Speaker 1: of Autism. and or ADHD deficit hyperactivity disorder among sibling
[7:32] Speaker 1: matched cohorts. Essentially what they're trying to do is answer
[7:35] Speaker 1: the question, does prenatal exposure to paracetamol increase the risk
[7:38] Speaker 1: of autism spectrum disorder or ADHD in offspring after accounting
[7:43] Speaker 1: for what could be happening in the family? So essentially
[7:47] Speaker 1: looking at genetic effects. They had an initial cohort of
[7:50] Speaker 1: 708,000 mother-child pairs in Hong Kong and about 43% had
[7:52] Speaker 1: prenatal paracetamol. exposure. They had a sibling matched cohort of
[8:01] Speaker 1: 124,000 kids who were assessed for ASD and 100,000 for ADHD.
[8:07] Speaker 1: And what they basically found was that prenatal paracetamol exposure
[8:12] Speaker 1: was not associated with an increased risk of either ASD
[8:15] Speaker 1: or ADHD. And these findings were consistent across paracetamol exposure
[8:19] Speaker 1: timing pattern and dose. In short, they found I think
[8:25] Speaker 1: something reasonably reassuring regarding the safety of paracetamol use during pregnancy.
[8:31] Speaker 1: That's the finding. It doesn't seem to, according to this
[8:35] Speaker 1: specific study, have any impact on the likelihood of a
[8:38] Speaker 1: child having an ADHD or autism diagnosis, which should make
[8:43] Speaker 1: a lot of parents breathe a lot easier.
[8:44] Speaker 3: I was about to say that. It's literally pretty much
[8:47] Speaker 3: the only drug that you are allowed to take during pregnancy,
[8:52] Speaker 3: supposedly safely. it would be devastating to think that there
[8:56] Speaker 3: is not anything left on the list.
[8:59] Speaker 1: I'm not convinced that this study shows evidence that it
[9:03] Speaker 1: is safe. What it found was... That there's no link.
[9:07] Speaker 1: That there was no association between the two things in
[9:10] Speaker 1: this particular study. And I'm just concerned that they've overstated it.
[9:14] Speaker 1: We didn't find an association doesn't mean that there is
[9:18] Speaker 1: no association. To me.
[9:20] Speaker 3: 708,000 people, though. That's a lot.
[9:22] Speaker 1: Yeah, it really is. And you'd expect to find something
[9:24] Speaker 1: if it was there. But I think that it would
[9:27] Speaker 1: be really nice to put it to bed and actually say,
[9:30] Speaker 1: Trump got this wrong. I'd love to see more research
[9:32] Speaker 1: on it so that we can have a more definitive position.
[9:36] Speaker 1: But this is the first of many studies, I'm sure,
[9:39] Speaker 1: that are going to help us to answer this empirical question,
[9:43] Speaker 1: regardless of who said it and how ludicrous it sounded
[9:45] Speaker 1: when it was said. After the break, two more studies
[9:48] Speaker 1: that have caught my eye that I think we really
[9:50] Speaker 1: need to discuss. Stay with us. We're back. This is
[10:00] Speaker 1: the Happy Families podcast. Which one are we doing next, hon?
[10:02] Speaker 3: Hetero-pessimism is harming young women.
[10:06] Speaker 2: Right.
[10:07] Speaker 1: So, Suzanne Benker is an author and life coach who
[10:10] Speaker 1: was recently talking about this idea on Chris Williamson's Modern
[10:15] Speaker 1: Wisdom podcast. Hetero-pessimism essentially means that if I were a woman,
[10:23] Speaker 1: I would say I'm pessimistic about the possibility of things
[10:26] Speaker 1: working out with a guy. I don't think this can work.
[10:29] Speaker 1: And what we're seeing is that women are increasingly showing
[10:34] Speaker 1: these indicators. When I was writing my book about boys,
[10:38] Speaker 1: I spoke to a number of both women and adolescent females, girls,
[10:44] Speaker 1: who said that they felt like their life would be
[10:46] Speaker 1: better without a man in it. There's this pessimism about
[10:50] Speaker 1: guys that are out there. And some of the stats
[10:53] Speaker 1: on this are revealing. Only 24% of women aged 18
[10:57] Speaker 1: to 29 believe married mothers are ultimately happier than other women.
[11:03] Speaker 1: High school girls' hopes for marriage are also retreating. In 2010,
[11:07] Speaker 1: more than 80% expected to marry. Now, 16 years later,
[11:11] Speaker 1: it's dropped from 80% to 67% expecting to marry. We're
[11:16] Speaker 1: in a dating recession. If you look at data from
[11:18] Speaker 1: the US, the Pew Research Organization found 39% of single
[11:23] Speaker 1: women under the age of 40 aren't even looking for
[11:27] Speaker 1: a relationship. And it seems that across the board, the
[11:34] Speaker 1: path to happiness for a lot of females seems to
[11:38] Speaker 1: be as far away from men as it can be yet.
[11:42] Speaker 1: And this is why I wanted to bring it up.
[11:44] Speaker 1: There's a brand new article at the Institute for Family
[11:47] Speaker 1: Studies blog that says the following. It says, unmarried childless
[11:52] Speaker 1: women in their 20s and 30s are nearly three times
[11:54] Speaker 1: more likely to be unhappy with their lives compared to
[11:58] Speaker 1: married mothers the same age. And then they just say,
[12:02] Speaker 1: heteropessimism really is a trap. By the time they feel
[12:06] Speaker 1: ready in their 30s, the switch doesn't flip on command.
[12:09] Speaker 1: Many found it hard to find a good man given
[12:11] Speaker 1: the pool and their immediate circles had shrunk. Others found
[12:13] Speaker 1: unanticipated difficulty in pivoting from a life focused on career
[12:16] Speaker 1: and travel to marriage and young kids. Still others found
[12:18] Speaker 1: getting pregnant difficult or impossible, especially if they're in their
[12:21] Speaker 1: late 30s. And so the research then goes on to
[12:24] Speaker 1: talk about what seems to be best associated with positive
[12:30] Speaker 1: outcomes in life and especially in our relationships. And it
[12:34] Speaker 1: goes directly opposite the hetero-pessimism hypothesis. It sounds very traditional.
[12:40] Speaker 1: I'm aware of that. And again, this is why we
[12:43] Speaker 1: ask these questions empirically, because ideology and empiricism don't always
[12:47] Speaker 1: match up. But it seems that the ideology of hetero-pessimism
[12:50] Speaker 1: and boys can't do it right, men are not doing
[12:53] Speaker 1: well and life would be better without them. Maybe at
[12:57] Speaker 1: an individual level, there are some unhealthy men and some
[13:00] Speaker 1: really unhealthy relationships out there. But on the whole, the
[13:03] Speaker 1: empirical evidence seems to be pointing very clearly to a
[13:06] Speaker 1: conversation we want to have with our daughter specifically, finding
[13:10] Speaker 1: the right guy. I talk about it in the book,
[13:12] Speaker 1: finding a chair stacker, finding the guys who know how
[13:15] Speaker 1: to help the people around them feel safer and stronger
[13:18] Speaker 1: is categorically associated with better life outcomes and more happiness
[13:23] Speaker 1: and satisfaction with life.
[13:26] Speaker 3: And our last study today is, is there might be
[13:29] Speaker 3: a new scientific explanation for the huge rise in ADHD
[13:34] Speaker 3: and ASD diagnosis.
[13:35] Speaker 1: I feel like I need to have a lay down
[13:36] Speaker 1: after this podcast. Not only are we doing four studies
[13:39] Speaker 1: in one, which is a lot, but there's some really
[13:41] Speaker 1: heavy content here. Like the stuff that we're talking about
[13:43] Speaker 1: is really provocative. It's the stuff that pushes people's buttons.
[13:46] Speaker 1: I'm not trying to push buttons. I just, again, empirical
[13:49] Speaker 1: questions need empirical answers. So the question that this specific
[13:53] Speaker 1: article in JAMA Psychiatry answered. And this is called changes
[13:58] Speaker 1: in genetic contributions to ASD and ADHD by year of diagnosis.
[14:03] Speaker 1: These researchers asked the question, has the genetic risk profile
[14:06] Speaker 1: of individuals diagnosed with ASD and ADHD changed as diagnostic
[14:11] Speaker 1: rates have increased? And here's what they found. With 17,071
[14:15] Speaker 1: people in the study with diagnosis of ASD and 20,111
[14:17] Speaker 1: individuals with ADHD diagnoses, genetic contributions, and I want to
[14:30] Speaker 1: say this very carefully and very precisely, genetic contributions to
[14:35] Speaker 1: ASD and ADHD weakened over the past two decades. So
[14:42] Speaker 1: what they've basically said in their study is the results
[14:45] Speaker 1: suggest that recent increases in ASD and ADHD diagnoses coincide
[14:50] Speaker 1: with a broadening of diagnostic criteria that not necessarily an
[14:55] Speaker 1: increase in actual ADHD and ASD. It's really provocative. It's
[15:00] Speaker 1: a hard thing to talk about. I'm not saying, by
[15:03] Speaker 1: the way, if you are a parent and you're struggling
[15:05] Speaker 1: with this, that your diagnosis isn't real for your kids
[15:07] Speaker 1: or for you. What the research seems to be saying,
[15:11] Speaker 1: and they analyze so many scores, they did so much
[15:15] Speaker 1: work on this. Essentially, they've said the following, broadening diagnostic
[15:19] Speaker 1: criteria are the best explanation for increasing rates. And obviously,
[15:25] Speaker 1: there are all sorts of implications for understanding changes in
[15:27] Speaker 1: risk factors and clinical practice. It's a really big one.
[15:30] Speaker 1: And I think that it shines a light on what
[15:32] Speaker 1: we're doing in both medicine and psychology, because the diagnosis
[15:38] Speaker 1: may not always be in the best interests of the person.
[15:41] Speaker 1: But a compassionate doctor sits with a parent who's struggling
[15:43] Speaker 1: and says, well, let's tick these boxes. It looks like
[15:45] Speaker 1: you've got them. We'll see what support or medication or
[15:47] Speaker 1: what we can do to help. It just may not
[15:49] Speaker 1: always be the right thing based on this study. A
[15:53] Speaker 1: really big one, some really tough topics. What I love
[15:55] Speaker 1: about science is that we get to wrestle with tough
[15:58] Speaker 1: topics with empirical data. But of course, it can be
[16:02] Speaker 1: really hard at an individual level. It can be really sensitive.
[16:05] Speaker 1: But that's our podcast today, Kylie. Thanks so much for
[16:08] Speaker 1: joining me for another episode of The Doctor's Desk. We're
[16:11] Speaker 1: back tomorrow with I'll Do Better Tomorrow. And if you'd
[16:15] Speaker 1: like more info to make your family happier, Check the
[16:17] Speaker 1: show notes so that you can see where these studies
[16:19] Speaker 1: came from and what we can learn from them.

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