Purpose: Young people with developmental language disorder (DLD) have poorer mental health than those without DLD. However, not all young people with DLD are equally affected; some have more mental health difficulties than others. What explains these differences remains unclear. Method: Data from a community cohort study, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, were analysed to investigate genetic and environmental influences on the development of mental health difficulties at five time points from childhood (7 years) to adolescence (16 years) in 6,387 young people (8.7% with DLD). Regression and latent class models were fitted to the data.Results: Polygenic scores, indices of genetic risk, for common psychiatric disorders (major depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) predicted mental health difficulties in both groups (with and without DLD). Sub-groups of children with similar developmental trajectories of mental health difficulties were identified. Polygenic scores distinguished sub-groups with low mental health difficulties from those characterised by high levels of difficulties, over and above the effects of the socioeconomic status and the early home environment, but these effects did not differ based on DLD status. Conclusion. These findings suggest that, for the most part, both genetic and environmental risk affect the development of mental health difficulties in a cumulative way for young people with DLD (and those without). Although some analysis suggests that genetic risk for common psychiatric disorders might manifest more strongly in those with DLD compared to those without DLD.
Background. Sibling bullying is associated with mental health difficulties; both in the short and long term. It is commonly assumed that sibling bullying leads to mental health difficulties but observational studies rarely allow for such inferences to be made. Method. To ad-dress this gap in knowledge, we used a genetically sensitive design with data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (maximum N=3,959). At ages 12-13 years, individuals self-reported their involvement in sibling bullying, as a victim and perpetrator, and parents reported on their child’s mental health difficulties. Polygenic scores, in-dices of genetic risk for psychiatric disorders (major depressive disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) were computed using children’s genetic data. Regression and structural equation models were fitted to the data. Results. Sibling bullying and polygenic scores both independently predicted mental health difficulties but the relationship between sibling bullying and mental health difficulties was not moderated by genetic risk. Addition-ally, polygenic scores for mental health difficulties were associated with both sibling bully-ing and mental health difficulties. Conclusion. These findings suggest that the relationship between sibling bullying and mental health difficulties is not simply causal; sibling bullying and mental health difficulties may be, at least partly, related due to shared genetic etiology.
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