Genetic and environmental influences on Anxious/Depression during childhood: a study from the Netherlands Twin Register

For a large sample of twin pairs from the Netherlands Twins Register who were recruited at birth and followed through childhood, we obtained parental ratings of Anxious/Depression (A/D). Maternal ratings were obtained at ages 3 years (for 9025 twin pairs), 5 years (9222 pairs), 7 years (7331 pairs), 10 years (4430 pairs) and 12 years (2363 pairs). For 60-90% of the pairs, father ratings were also available. Multivariate genetic models were used to test for rater-independent and rater-specific assessments of A/D and to determine the genetic and environmental influences on individual differences in A/D at different ages. At all ages, monozygotic twins resembled each other more closely for A/D than dizygotic twins, implying genetic influences on variation in A/D. Opposite sex twin pairs resembled each other to same extent as same-sex dizygotic twins, suggesting that the same genes are expressed in boys and girls. Heritability estimates for rater-independent A/D were high in 3-year olds (76%) and decreased in size as children grew up [60% at age 5, 67% at age 7, 53% at age 10 (60% in boys) and 48% at age 12 years]. The decrease in genetic influences was accompanied by an increase in the influence of the shared family environment [absent at ages 3 and 7, 16% at age 5, 20% at age 10 (5% in boys) and 18% at age 12 years]. The agreement between parental A/D ratings was between 0.5 and 0.7, with somewhat higher correlations for the youngest group. Disagreement in ratings between the parents was not merely the result of unreliability or rater bias. Both the parents provided unique information from their own perspective on the behavior of their children. Significant influences of genetic and shared environmental factors were found for the unique parental views. At all ages, the contribution of shared environmental factors to variation in rater-specific views was higher for father ratings. Also, at all ages except age 12, the heritability estimates for the rater-specific phenotype were higher for mother ratings (59% at age 3 and decreasing to 27% at age 12 years) than for father ratings (between 14 and 29%). Differences between children, even as young as 3 years, in A/D are to a large extent due to genetic differences. As children grow up, the variation in A/D is due in equal parts to genetic and environmental influences. Anxious/Depression, unlike many other common childhood psychopathologies, is influenced by the shared family environment. These findings may provide support for why certain family therapeutic approaches are effective in the A/D spectrum of illnesses. Copyright © Blackwell Munksgaard 2005

Disclosure of Maternal HIV Status to Children: To Tell or Not To Tell . . . That Is the Question

HIV-infected mothers face the challenging decision of whether to disclose their serostatus to their children. From the perspective of both mother and child, we explored the process of disclosure, providing descriptive information and examining the relationships among disclosure, demographic variables, and child adjustment. Participants were 23 mothers and one of their noninfected children (9 to 16 years of age). Sixty-one percent of mothers disclosed. Consistent with previous research, disclosure was not related to child functioning. However, children sworn to secrecy demonstrated lower social competence and more externalizing problems. Differential disclosure, which occurred in one-third of the families, was associated with higher levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms. Finally, knowing more than mothers had themselves disclosed was related to child maladjustment across multiple domains. Clinical implications and the need for future research are considered

Improving estimation of the prognosis of childhood psychopathology; combination of DSM-III-R/DISC diagnoses and CBCL scores [IF: 2.7]

Objective: To compare the predictive validity of the clinical-diagnostic and the empirical-quantitative approach to assessment of childhood psychopathology, and to investigate the usefulness of combining both approaches. Method: A referred sample (N=96), aged 6 to 12 years at initial assessment, was followed up across - on average - a period of 3.2 years. It was assessed to what extent DISC/DSM-III-R diagnoses - representing the clinical-diagnostic approach, and CBCL scores - representing the empirical-quantitative approach, predicted the following signs of poor outcome: outpatient/inpatient treatment, or parents' wish for professional help for the child at follow-up, disciplinary problems in school, and police/judicial contacts. Results: Both diagnostic systems added significantly to the prediction of poor outcome, and neither of the two systems was superior. Use of both systems simultaneously provided the most accurate estimation of the prognosis, reflected by the occurrence of future poor outcome. Even diagnostic concepts that are generally regarded as relatively similar, such as ADHD (DSM) and attention problems (CBCL), or conduct disorder (DSM) and delinquent behavior (CBCL), appeared to differ in their ability to predict poor outcome. Conclusions: The present study supports the use of the empirical-quantitative approach and the clinical-diagnostic approach simultaneously, both in research and in clinical settings, to obtain a comprehensive view of the prognosis of psychopathology in children. © Association for Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2004

Children's recall and recognition of sex role stereotyped and discrepant information

This research investigated the influence of differing levels of sex role stereotyped and discrepant information on immediate and delayed (one week) memory. Specifically, kindergarten and second-grade children's recall and recognition of stereotyped, moderately discrepant, and highly discrepant pictures were compared. In Study 1, a sorting procedure was utilized to determine the level of stereotyping of 34 toys. From this study 12 toys were selected as stimuli for Study 2. In Study 2, children's immediate and delayed recall and recognition was assessed. Results suggested significantly better recall of highly discrepant pictures than stereotyped or moderately discrepant pictures. In addition, immediate recall was better than delayed recall and second-grade recall was better than kindergarten recall. Similar trends emerged with the recognition task. Results were discussed with respect to the schematic processing model.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45579/1/11199_2004_Article_BF00289952.pd

Heritability of attention problems in children II: longitudinal results from a study of twins age 3 to 12.

this paper we present data of large samples of twin families, with an equal number of girls and boys. The well-known gender difference with boys displaying more OA and AP was observed at each age. Even at the age of 3, boys display more OA problems than girls. Clinical studies have indicated that severe problem behavior can be identified in very young children (see for review, Campbell, 1995; Keenan & Wakschlag, 2000; Shaw, Owens, Giovannelli, & Winslow, 2001) and that the onset of ADHD is during the pre-school period (Barkley, Fisher, Edelbrock, & Smallish, 1990; Table 6 Top part includes percentages of total variances (diagonal) and covariances (off-diagonal) explained by additive genetic, genetic dominance, and unique environmental components based on best fitting models. Percentages for boys and girls are reported below and above diagonal, respectively. Lower part includes correlations calculated for additive genetic, genetic dominance, and unique environmental sources of variance between different ages. Correlations for boys and girls are reported below and above diagonal, respectively Relative proportions of variance and covariance BoysnGirls A% D% E% OA 3 AP 7 AP 10 AP 12 OA 3 AP 7 AP 10 AP 12 OA 3 AP 7 AP 10 AP 12 OA 3 50n41 73 79 75 22n33 17 13 14 28n26 10 8 11 AP 7 59 33n57 50 53 31 39n16 31 28 10 28n27 19 19 AP 10 86 31 41n48 47 6 51 31n25 32 8 18 28n27 21 AP 12 71 24 31 40n54 16 55 45 30n18 13 21 24 30n28 Correlations between different ages BoysnGirls ADE OA 3 AP 7 AP 10 AP 12 OA 3 AP 7 AP 10 AP 12 OA 3 AP 7 AP 10 AP 12 OA 3 1.00 .60 .66 .57 1.00 .30 .16 .20 1.00 .15 .12 .14 AP 7 .57 1.00 .62 .57 .41 1.00 .99 1.00 .15 1.00 .46 .41 AP 10 .68 .56 1.00 .61 .08 .94 1.00 1.00 .11 .42 1.00 .50 AP 12 .49 .42 .53 1.00 .20 .98 .99 1.00 .14 .45 .58 1.00 ..

Mother and Adolescent Reports of Associations Between Child Behavior Problems and Mother-Child Relationship Qualities: Separating Shared Variance from Individual Variance

This study contrasts results from different correlational methods for examining links between mother and child (N = 72 dyads) reports of early adolescent (M = 11.5 years) behavior problems and relationship negativity and support. Simple (Pearson) correlations revealed a consistent pattern of statistically significant associations, regardless of whether scores came from the same reporter or from different reporters. When correlations between behavior problems and relationship quality differed, within-reporter correlations were always greater in magnitude than between-reporter correlations. Dyadic (common fate) analyses designed for interdependent data decomposed within-reporter correlations into variance shared across reporters (dyadic correlations) and variance unique to specific reporters (individual correlations). Dyadic correlations were responsible for most associations between adolescent behavior problems and relationship negativity; after partitioning variance shared across reporters, no individual correlations emerged as statistically significant. In contrast, adolescent behavior problems were linked to relationship support via both shared variance and variance unique to maternal perceptions. Dyadic analyses provide a parsimonious alternative to multiple contrasts in instances when identical measures have been collected from multiple reporters. Findings from these analyses indicate that same-reporter variance bias should not be assumed in the absence of dyadic statistical analyses

A Multitrait–Multimethod Analysis of the Construct Validity of Child Anxiety Disorders in a Clinical Sample

The present study examines the construct validity of separation anxiety disorder (SAD), social phobia (SoP), panic disorder (PD), and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) in a clinical sample of children. Participants were 174 children, 6 to 17 years old (94 boys) who had undergone a diagnostic evaluation at a university hospital based clinic. Parent and child ratings of symptom severity were assessed using the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC). Diagnostician ratings were obtained from the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for Children and Parents (ADIS: C/P). Discriminant and convergent validity were assessed using confirmatory factor analytic techniques to test a multitrait–multimethod model. Confirmatory factor analyses supported the current classification of these child anxiety disorders. The disorders demonstrated statistical independence from each other (discriminant validity of traits), the model fit better when the anxiety syndromes were specified than when no specific syndromes were specified (convergent validity), and the methods of assessment yielded distinguishable, unique types of information about child anxiety (discriminant validity of methods). Using a multi-informant approach, these findings support the distinctions between childhood anxiety disorders as delineated in the current classification system, suggesting that disagreement between informants in psychometric studies of child anxiety measures is not due to poor construct validity of these anxiety syndromes

Thought Problems from Adolescence to Adulthood: Measurement Invariance and Longitudinal Heritability

This study investigates the longitudinal heritability in Thought Problems (TP) as measured with ten items from the Adult Self Report (ASR). There were ~9,000 twins, ~2,000 siblings and ~3,000 additional family members who participated in the study and who are registered at the Netherlands Twin Register. First an exploratory factor analysis was conducted to examine the underlying factor structure of the TP-scale. Then the TP-scale was tested for measurement invariance (MI) across age and sex. Next, genetic and environmental influences were modeled on the longitudinal development of TP across three age groups (12–18, 19–27 and 28–59 year olds) based on the twin and sibling relationships in the data. An exploratory factor analysis yielded a one-factor solution, and MI analyses indicated that the same TP-construct is assessed across age and sex. Two additive genetic components influenced TP across age: the first influencing TP throughout all age groups, while the second arises during young adulthood and stays significant throughout adulthood. The additive genetic components explained 37% of the variation across all age groups. The remaining variance (63%) was explained by unique environmental influences. The longitudinal phenotypic correlation between these age groups was entirely explained by the additive genetic components. We conclude that the TP-scale measures a single underlying construct across sex and different ages. These symptoms are significantly influenced by additive genetic factors from adolescence to late adulthood

Concordância de informações de adolescentes e suas mães em inquérito de saúde

OBJETIVO: Estimar o grau de concordância entre informações obtidas de trabalhadores adolescentes e suas mães em inquérito de saúde. MÉTODOS: Os dados provêm de inquérito populacional, de base domiciliar, conduzido com amostra aleatória de superfície de residentes da área urbana de Salvador, capital do Estado da Bahia. A amostra compõe-se de 82 pares de adolescentes trabalhadores de 10 a 14 anos de idade e suas mães. Após entrevista com os adolescentes, numa outra visita, suas mães foram convidadas a responder um questionário similar por um entrevistador cego. Sintomas respiratórios, depressivos, alterações do padrão do sono e problemas na vizinhança e na escola foram as variáveis analisadas. O grau de concordância foi estimado com proporções de acordo e Índice Kappa. RESULTADOS: Estimativas de acordo foram, em geral, baixas, com as mães fornecendo mais freqüentemente respostas positivas que os adolescentes, determinando vieses negativos, ou seja, estimativas menores, caso os resultados se baseassem no informante. A confiabilidade foi mais elevada entre os meninos em comparação com as meninas, para todas variáveis exceto para alterações do padrão de sono. Para sintomas depressivos, o nível de escolaridade da mãe se associou negativamente com o grau de concordância. CONCLUSÕES: Informações obtidas de adolescentes diferem das obtidas de suas mães. Baixas concordâncias não equivalem a um problema de validade, que deverá ser avaliada em estudos futuros para essa população