Maternal Perinatal and Concurrent Anxiety and Mental Health Problems in Early Childhood: A Sibling‐Comparison Study

Gjerde, Line C.; Eilertsen, Espen Moen; Eley, Thalia C.; McAdams, Tom A.; Reichborn‐Kjennerud, Ted; Røysamb, Espen; Ystrøm, Eivind

doi:10.1111/cdev.13192

Cited by 18 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Fourth, it is possible that the associations between maternal depressive symptoms and child emotional and behavioral problems could be partly explained by various prenatal influences, such as maternal prenatal depressive symptoms (Barker, Jaffee, Uher, & Maughan, 2011; Kerr et al, 2013) or obstetric complications (Kerr et al, 2013). However, associations between prenatal maternal depressive symptoms and child emotional and behavioral problems are found to be genetically confounded (Gjerde et al, 2018; Hannigan et al, 2018), and the genetics of depressive symptoms is rather stable (Nes, Roysamb, Reichborn-Kjennerud, Harris, & Tambs, 2007). We can therefore assume that most of the potential prenatal influence is controlled for by the postnatal depressive symptoms included in the present study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations between maternal depressive symptoms and risk for offspring early-life psychopathology: the role of genetic and non-genetic mechanisms

et al. 2019

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Background Although maternal depressive symptoms are robustly associated with offspring early-life psychopathology symptoms, it is not clear which potential mechanisms are at play. We aimed to estimate the relative importance of genetic transmission and direct environmental exposure in these associations on three occasions in early childhood. Methods Biometric modeling of maternal sisters and their offspring from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study. The analyzed sample comprised 22 316 mothers and 35 589 offspring. Mothers reported their own depressive symptoms using the Symptom checklist, and offspring's concurrent symptoms of psychopathology using the Child Behavior Checklist at 1.5, 3, and 5 years postpartum. Results Associations between maternal symptoms of depression and offspring emotional problems were predominantly explained by passive genetic transmission at 1.5 and 3 years postpartum. At age 5, associations were more due to direct environmental exposure. For offspring behavioral problems, there was no net increase in the importance of direct environmental exposure across occasions. Conclusions Associations between maternal depressive symptoms and offspring psychopathology symptoms remained after accounting for shared genes, consistent with a small, causal effect. For offspring emotional problems, this effect appeared to increase in importance over time. Our findings imply that treatment of maternal depressive symptoms could also benefit the offspring, and that genetic confounding should be considered in future studies of such mother–offspring associations.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations between maternal depressive symptoms and risk for offspring early-life psychopathology: the role of genetic and non-genetic mechanisms

et al. 2019

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“…In the 2 publications using sibling-comparison designs, researchers found no significant associations in any of their reported analyses with offspring during early childhood (standardized b range, À.03 to .07). 51,59 As shown in Table 2, all effect sizes involving postnatal anxiety exposure were weak (standardized b and r range, .00 to .25). However, structural equation models in 2 publications using adoption designs showed that parent and child symptoms could prospectively predict one another across time, highlighting intergenerational, nongenetic, transactional effects during early and middle childhood.…”

Section: Additional Observationsmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…48,49 This could explain the relatively small effect sizes reported in the 2 sibling-comparison publications we included in meta-analyses. 51,59 It is also possible for both children-of-twins and sibling-comparison designs to overcorrect for genetic relatedness if genetic factors comprise an integral part of the causal pathway in parent-tochild environmental transmission, rather than acting as confounders across generations. 85 Further, in both designs, it is possible for the effects of evocative gene-environment correlation to inflate estimates of the parent's causal influence on the child.…”

Section: Considering the Role Of Methodological Confoundingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Genetically Informed Research: Associations Between Parent Anxiety and Offspring Internalizing Problems

Ahmadzadeh

Schoeler

Han

et al. 2021

Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psych

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Parent anxiety is associated with offspring internalizing problems (emotional problems related to anxiety and depression). This may reflect causal processes, whereby exposure to parent anxiety directly influences offspring internalizing (and/or vice versa). However, parent-offspring associations could also be attributable to their genetic relatedness. A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to investigate whether exposure to parent anxiety is associated with offspring internalizing after controlling for genetic relatedness. Method: A literature search across 5 databases identified 429 unique records. Publications were retained if they used a quasi-experimental design in a general population sample to control for participant relatedness in associations between parent anxiety and offspring internalizing outcomes. Publications were excluded if they involved an experimental exposure or intervention. Studies of prenatal and postnatal anxiety exposure were meta-analyzed separately. Pearson's correlation coefficient estimates (r) were pooled using multilevel random-effects models. Results: Eight publications were retained. Data were drawn from 4 population cohorts, each unique to a quasi-experimental design: adoption, siblingcomparison, children-of-twins or in vitro fertilization. Cohorts were located in northern Europe or America. Families were predominantly of European ancestry. Three publications (N families >11,700; offspring age range, 0.5-10 years) showed no association between prenatal anxiety exposure and offspring internalizing outcomes after accounting for participant relatedness (r ¼ .04; 95% CI: À.07, .14). Six publications (N families >12,700; offspring age range, 0.75-22 years) showed a small but significant association between concurrent symptoms in parents and offspring after accounting for participant relatedness (r ¼ .13; 95% CI: .04, .21). Conclusion: Initial literature, derived from homogeneous populations, suggests that prenatal anxiety exposure does not cause offspring internalizing outcomes. However, postnatal anxiety exposure may be causally associated with concurrent offspring internalizing via nongenetic pathways. Longitudinal stability, child-to-parent effects, and the role of moderators and methodological biases require attention.

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“…For example, children were at an increased risk of becoming teenage mothers if their mothers were teenagers at the time their first child was born ( Hardy et al, 1998 ), suggesting that age of parents at birth might be less important for intergenerational continuity of teenage parenthood than age of parent at birth of the first child in the family. Comparably, using a sibling comparison design, concurrent but not perinatal maternal depression was significantly associated with offspring internalizing and externalizing problems during preschool years ( Gjerde et al, 2017 ), and concurrent but not perinatal maternal anxiety was significantly associated with offspring internalizing problems ( Gjerde et al, 2020 ). Moreover, the effect of concurrent maternal depression on internalizing problems increased with child age.…”

Section: Methodological Considerations In Intergenerational Transmissmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intergenerational transmission: Theoretical and methodological issues and an introduction to four Dutch cohorts

Branje

Geeraerts

Zeeuw

et al. 2020

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience

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Behaviors, traits and characteristics are transmitted from parents to offspring because of complex genetic and non-genetic processes. We review genetic and non-genetic mechanisms of intergenerational transmission of psychopathology and parenting and focus on recent methodological advances in disentangling genetic and non-genetic factors. In light of this review, we propose that future studies on intergenerational transmission should aim to disentangle genetic and non-genetic transmission, take a long-term longitudinal perspective, and focus on paternal and maternal intergenerational transmission. We present four large longitudinal cohort studies within the Consortium on Individual Development, which together address many of these methodological challenges. These four cohort studies aim to examine the extent to which genetic and non-genetic transmission from the parental generation shapes parenting behavior and psychopathology in the next generation, as well as the extent to which self-regulation and social competence mediate this transmission. Conjointly, these four cohorts provide a comprehensive approach to the study of intergenerational transmission.

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Maternal Perinatal and Concurrent Anxiety and Mental Health Problems in Early Childhood: A Sibling‐Comparison Study

Cited by 18 publications

References 59 publications

Associations between maternal depressive symptoms and risk for offspring early-life psychopathology: the role of genetic and non-genetic mechanisms

Associations between maternal depressive symptoms and risk for offspring early-life psychopathology: the role of genetic and non-genetic mechanisms

Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Genetically Informed Research: Associations Between Parent Anxiety and Offspring Internalizing Problems

Intergenerational transmission: Theoretical and methodological issues and an introduction to four Dutch cohorts

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