Kontexteffekte in Familien - Angleichung von Paaren und intergenerationale Transmission am Beispiel Religiosität

Der vorliegende Beitrag zeigt konzeptuelle und methodische Ansätze zur Untersuchung von sozialen Kontexteinflüssen innerhalb von Familien auf. Familienmitglieder repräsentieren füreinander jeweils gegenseitig den sozialen Kontext, innerhalb dessen sich familiales Handeln und individuelle Persönlichkeitsentwicklung abspielen. Soziale Einflüsse in Familien äußern sich empirisch in einer überzufälligen Ähnlichkeit der Familienmitglieder hinsichtlich einer großen Bandbreite von Merkmalen. Der vorliegende Beitrag fokussiert auf die intrafamiliale Homogenisierung hinsichtlich Religiosität, wobei in einem empirischen Datenbeispiel a) horizontale Paar-Angleichungsprozesse sowie b) vertikale intergenerationale Transmissionsprozesse untersucht werden. Neben dem Befund, dass Sozialisationserfahrungen im Elternhaus bedeutsamer sind als spätere Partnereinflüsse, zeigen die Analysen, dass soziale Kontexteffekte umso stärker ausfallen, je größer die Kohäsion in der jeweiligen Interaktionsdyade ist (hier operationalisiert über die Beziehungsqualität). (Autorenreferat)The present contribution shows conceptual and methodological ap-proaches for the study of social context effects within families. Family members mutually constitute the social context in which family behavior and personality development take place. Social influence in families becomes evident empirically in family members' significant similarity concerning a wide variety of characteristics. The present study focuses on intrafamily convergence with regard to religiousness. In an empirical illustration, both (a) horizontal intracouple alignment and (b) vertical intergenerational transmission processes are examined. Besides the finding that experiences during religious socialization in the parental home have a stronger impact than partner influences in adulthood, our analyses show that social context effects are more pronounced the stronger the cohesion of the respective interaction dyad is (e.g., according to measures of relationship quality). (auhtor's abstract

Analysis of shared heritability in common disorders of the brain

ience, this issue p. eaap8757 Structured Abstract INTRODUCTION Brain disorders may exhibit shared symptoms and substantial epidemiological comorbidity, inciting debate about their etiologic overlap. However, detailed study of phenotypes with different ages of onset, severity, and presentation poses a considerable challenge. Recently developed heritability methods allow us to accurately measure correlation of genome-wide common variant risk between two phenotypes from pools of different individuals and assess how connected they, or at least their genetic risks, are on the genomic level. We used genome-wide association data for 265,218 patients and 784,643 control participants, as well as 17 phenotypes from a total of 1,191,588 individuals, to quantify the degree of overlap for genetic risk factors of 25 common brain disorders. RATIONALE Over the past century, the classification of brain disorders has evolved to reflect the medical and scientific communities' assessments of the presumed root causes of clinical phenomena such as behavioral change, loss of motor function, or alterations of consciousness. Directly observable phenomena (such as the presence of emboli, protein tangles, or unusual electrical activity patterns) generally define and separate neurological disorders from psychiatric disorders. Understanding the genetic underpinnings and categorical distinctions for brain disorders and related phenotypes may inform the search for their biological mechanisms. RESULTS Common variant risk for psychiatric disorders was shown to correlate significantly, especially among attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder (MDD), and schizophrenia. By contrast, neurological disorders appear more distinct from one another and from the psychiatric disorders, except for migraine, which was significantly correlated to ADHD, MDD, and Tourette syndrome. We demonstrate that, in the general population, the personality trait neuroticism is significantly correlated with almost every psychiatric disorder and migraine. We also identify significant genetic sharing between disorders and early life cognitive measures (e.g., years of education and college attainment) in the general population, demonstrating positive correlation with several psychiatric disorders (e.g., anorexia nervosa and bipolar disorder) and negative correlation with several neurological phenotypes (e.g., Alzheimer's disease and ischemic stroke), even though the latter are considered to result from specific processes that occur later in life. Extensive simulations were also performed to inform how statistical power, diagnostic misclassification, and phenotypic heterogeneity influence genetic correlations. CONCLUSION The high degree of genetic correlation among many of the psychiatric disorders adds further evidence that their current clinical boundaries do not reflect distinct underlying pathogenic processes, at least on the genetic level. This suggests a deeply interconnected nature for psychiatric disorders, in contrast to neurological disorders, and underscores the need to refine psychiatric diagnostics. Genetically informed analyses may provide important "scaffolding" to support such restructuring of psychiatric nosology, which likely requires incorporating many levels of information. By contrast, we find limited evidence for widespread common genetic risk sharing among neurological disorders or across neurological and psychiatric disorders. We show that both psychiatric and neurological disorders have robust correlations with cognitive and personality measures. Further study is needed to evaluate whether overlapping genetic contributions to psychiatric pathology may influence treatment choices. Ultimately, such developments may pave the way toward reduced heterogeneity and improved diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders

Analysis of shared heritability in common disorders of the brain

Paroxysmal Cerebral Disorder

Adult children's estrangement from parents in Germany

Objective To analyze the prevalence and predictors of children's estrangement from noncoresident biological mothers and fathers during young and middle adulthood. Background Intergenerational relationships exhibit considerable heterogeneity and need not always be close or intact. However, despite its potentially far-reaching impact on the entire family system, only very few quantitative studies have been conducted yet investigating adult parent-child estrangement. Method This study draws on ten waves of longitudinal survey data from the German Family Panel (pairfam;n = 10,228). We estimate two-level random-intercept logit panel regressions of parent-child estrangement, defined as noncontact or emotional distance. Results Substantially, more children experienced periods of estrangement from fathers (20%; corresponding to 12% of person-years of observation) than from mothers (9%; corresponding to 5% of person-years of observation). We observed a longitudinal pattern reflecting modest dynamics, that is, neither continuously estranged relationships nor multiple transitions into and out of estrangement were the rule. Disruptive family events and, particularly, children's estrangement from other (biological or nonbiological) parental figures turned out to be the most important predictors of being estranged from the focal biological parent, especially from fathers. Children expressing stronger familistic attitudes were less likely to experience estrangement. Conclusions Estrangement is a quantitatively relevant phenomenon in adult parent-child relations, where relationships with fathers are particularly vulnerable. Crossovers between children's relationships with various parental figures indicate that estrangement is a family matter that is best addressed by taking a family systems perspective. Estrangement deserves further attention by both researchers and practitioners in family counseling and therapy

Postoperative Pain Trajectories and Pain Chronification-an Empirical Typology of Pain Patients

Background. High intensity of acute postsurgical pain is one of the strongest predictors of chronic postsurgical pain (CPSP). We investigated if different types of patients with distinct combinations of initial pain intensity and rate of pain resolution exhibit different risks for increased pain intensity six months after surgery. Methods. Data from 174 patients were examined using growth mixture analysis by means of structural equation modeling. Results. Three types of patients were distinguished on the basis of acute pain trajectories. The majority of patients (57%) showed an unproblematic pattern of little initial pain on the first postoperative day, combined with further pain resolution over the four subsequent days. There also was a substantial group of patients (30%) who started out with severe pain but exhibited a high rate of pain resolution. Finally, we found a problematic group of patients (13%) who reported high pain intensities throughout all five postoperative measurements, with no signs of pain resolution. Even after controlling for preoperative pain intensity, these patients exhibited significantly higher pain intensities six months after surgery than the remaining patient groups. Conclusions. In this study, we demonstrated that there is substantial variation in postsurgical pain trajectories, not only with regard to postsurgical initial pain intensity, but also with regard to individual rates of pain resolution. Successful pain resolution appeared to be a better predictor of absence of increased pain intensities six months after surgery than initial pain immediately after surgery. Hence, attention should be given to appropriate pain treatment in order to minimize the risk of CPSP

Lebensstile und Wohnstandortwahl

In der Lebensstilforschung und verschiedenen Disziplinen der Raumforschung wird die These vertreten, dass Lebensstile relevant für Entscheidungen in unterschiedlichen Verhaltensbereichen, insbesondere aber im Feld der Auswahl von Wohnungen und Wohnstandorten sind. Die empirische Befundlage zu dieser Behauptung ist allerdings ausgesprochen uneinheitlich. Um die Bedingungen für die Relevanz von lebensstilbasierten Präferenzen für die Wohnungs- und Wohnstandortwahl zu präzisieren, knüpft dieser Aufsatz an ein einfaches entscheidungstheoretisches Modell an, das sowohl in der Stadtsoziologie wie auch in der Lebensstilforschung Verwendung gefunden hat. Darauf aufbauend wird eine empirische Studie auf der Basis einer Quartiersbefragung in Leipzig präsentiert, die den Einfluss von Lebensstilen auf die Wohnungs- und Wohnstandortwahl unter Bedingungen und in einem Kontext prüft, die eine besonders große Relevanz von Lebensstilen erwarten lassen. Insgesamt zeigen aber die Ergebnisse, dass lebensstilbasierte Präferenzen selbst unter diesen Bedingungen nur eine beschränkte Erklärungskraft aufweisen, während die Ressourcenausstattung von Personen und ihre Lebensform für Wohnentscheidungen von deutlich größerer Relevanz sind

Analysis of Shared Heritability in Common Disorders of the Brain

Disorders of the brain can exhibit considerable epidemiological comorbidity and often share symptoms, provoking debate about their etiologic overlap. We quantified the genetic sharing of 25 brain disorders from genome-wide association studies of 265,218 patients and 784,643 control participants and assessed their relationship to 17 phenotypes from 1,191,588 individuals. Psychiatric disorders share common variant risk, whereas neurological disorders appear more distinct from one another and from the psychiatric disorders. We also identified significant sharing between disorders and a number of brain phenotypes, including cognitive measures. Further, we conducted simulations to explore how statistical power, diagnostic misclassification, and phenotypic heterogeneity affect genetic correlations. These results highlight the importance of common genetic variation as a risk factor for brain disorders and the value of heritability-based methods in understanding their etiology