Paternal antisocial behavior and sons' cognitive ability : a population-based quasiexperimental study

Parents’ antisocial behavior is associated with developmental risks for the offspring but effects on cognitive ability are unknown. We used linked Swedish register data for a large sample of adolescent men (N = 1,177,173) and their parents to estimate associations between fathers’ criminal convictions and sons’ cognitive ability assessed at compulsory military conscription. Mechanisms behind the association were tested in children-of-siblings models across three types of sibling fathers (half-siblings, full-siblings, and monozygotic twins) with increasing genetic relatedness, and in quantitative genetic models. Fathers’ convictions associated with lower cognitive ability in sons (any crime: Cohen’s d = -.28; violent crimes: Cohen’s d = -.49). Adjusting for more genetic factors gradually reduced and eventually eliminated the association. Nuclear family environmental factors did not contribute to the association. Our results suggest that the association between paternal antisocial behavior and offspring cognitive ability is not causal but mostly due to underlying genetic factors.The Alfred Kordelin FoundationThe Swedish Research CouncilThe Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and WelfareAccepte

Risk of suicide after suicide attempt according to coexisting psychiatric disorder: Swedish cohort study with long term follow-up

Objective To investigate the impact of coexistent psychiatric morbidity on risk of suicide after a suicide attempt

Childhood family income, adolescent violent criminality and substance misuse : a quasi-experimental total population study

Background: Low socioeconomic status in childhood is a well-known predictor of subsequent criminal and substance misuse behaviors but the causal mechanisms are questioned. Aims: To investigate if the associations between childhood family income and subsequent adolescent criminality and substance misuse are explained by unobserved familial risk factors. Method: Swedish population-based quasi-experimental, family-based study following cohorts born 1989-1993 (ntotal=529,428; ncousins=262,816; nsiblings=217,035) from their 15th birthday up until the end of 2009. Results: Children of parents in the lowest income quintile experienced a seven-fold increased hazard rate of being convicted of violent criminality compared to peers in the highest quintile (HR=6.84, 95% CI: 6.28-7.44). This association was entirely accounted for by unobserved familial risk factors (HR=0.99; 95% CI: 0.46-2.13). Similar pattern of effects was found for substance misuse. Conclusions: There are no associations between childhood family income and subsequent violent criminality and substance misuse once unobserved familial risk factors are adjusted for.The Swedish Council for Working Life and Social ResearchThe Swedish Research CouncilThe National Institute of Child Health and Human DevelopmentAccepte

Replik til Svartdal och Gundersen

Replik til Svartdal och Gunderse

Sexual offending runs in families: A 37-year nationwide study.

BACKGROUND: Sexual crime is an important public health concern. The possible causes of sexual aggression, however, remain uncertain. METHODS: We examined familial aggregation and the contribution of genetic and environmental factors to sexual crime by linking longitudinal, nationwide Swedish crime and multigenerational family registers. We included all men convicted of any sexual offence (N = 21,566), specifically rape of an adult (N = 6131) and child molestation (N = 4465), from 1973 to 2009. Sexual crime rates among fathers and brothers of sexual offenders were compared with corresponding rates in fathers and brothers of age-matched population control men without sexual crime convictions. We also modelled the relative influence of genetic and environmental factors to the liability of sexual offending. RESULTS: We found strong familial aggregation of sexual crime [odds ratio (OR) = 5.1, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 4.5-5.9] among full brothers of convicted sexual offenders. Familial aggregation was lower in father-son dyads (OR = 3.7, 95% CI = 3.2-4.4) among paternal half-brothers (OR = 2.1, 95% CI = 1.5-2.9) and maternal half-brothers (OR = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.2-2.4). Statistical modelling of the strength and patterns of familial aggregation suggested that genetic factors (40%) and non-shared environmental factors (58%) explained the liability to offend sexually more than shared environmental influences (2%). Further, genetic effects tended to be weaker for rape of an adult (19%) than for child molestation (46%). CONCLUSIONS: We report strong evidence of familial clustering of sexual offending, primarily accounted for by genes rather than shared environmental influences. Future research should possibly test the effectiveness of selective prevention efforts for male first-degree relatives of sexually aggressive individuals, and consider familial risk in sexual violence risk assessment.The Swedish Prison and Probation Service R&DThe Swedish Research CouncilThe Wellcome TrustThe CIHR Banting fellowship programPublishe

Occurrence, performance and shoot damage of Tomicus piniperda in pine stands in southern Sweden after storm-felling

The pine shoot beetle, Tomicus piniperda (L.), is considered one of the most destructive pests of Scots pine, Pinus sylvestris (L.), in Europe. At high population densities, its feeding in the shoots of living pine trees may lead to substantial shoot and subsequent growth losses. After a storm-felling in southern Sweden in January 2005, there were high amounts of breeding material and a subsequent risk for bark beetle outbreaks. To study the beetle's reproductive success, population levels and risks for growth losses, we analysed bark samples of colonized trees, and counted fallen pine shoots. During the first season after the storm-felling, the pine shoot beetle population level was low. However, due to high reproductive success beetle numbers markedly increased in the second season, and there were high rates of successful colonization of available host material in following years. Shoot damage levels concomitantly rose in 2005-2006, then declined in 2007 and 2008. However, the accumulated shoot losses do not indicate any subsequent growth losses, as the recorded shoot damage levels were below those earlier seen in connection with growth reductions in damaged pine stands