Parental psychopathology and offspring anxiety disorders in childhood and adolescence: A Finnish nationwide register study
Open accessAbstract
Background Research suggests an association between parental psychiatric disorders and offspring anxiety disorders, yet comprehensive studies are limited. This study aims to investigate the associations between various parental psychiatric disorders and anxiety disorders in their offspring. Method Using Finnish register data, this nested case-control study analyzed 867,175 singleton live births from 1992 to 2006, identifying 21,671 cases of anxiety disorders diagnosed between 1998 and 2016. Matched with four controls each (n = 72,414) based on age and biological sex, the study adjusted for demographic and prenatal factors using conditional logistic regression models to calculate odds ratios (aORs). Results There was a significant association between parental psychiatric disorders and increased risk of anxiety disorders in offspring. The risk was notably higher when both parents had psychiatric disorders (aOR = 5.04; 95 % CI, 4.70-5.39; p Conclusion The findings emphasize the significant impact of parental psychiatric health on offspring anxiety disorders, highlighting the influence of genetic and environmental factors. Addressing parental mental health is crucial in preventing childhood anxiety disorders.
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Overall SAD shares common genetic vulnerabilities with other anxiety disorders, such as panic disorder and generalised anxiety disorder.
“overall SAD shares common genetic vulnerabilities with other anxiety disorders, such as panic disorder and generalised anxiety disorder”
From Epidemiology, genetics, neuroimaging, clinical features, and treatment between overall and performance-only social anxiety disorder: a narrative review (2026) · cites this paper as Khanal et al. 2025
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Okamura, L., Ueji, Y., Izumi, T., Fujikane, D., Ukisu, T., Murakami, H., Shioiri, T., & Ohi, K. (2026) · Dialogues in clinical neuroscience · doi:10.1080/19585969.2026.2661986
“Family studies suggest that overall SAD shares common genetic vulnerabilities with other anxiety disorders, such as panic disorder and generalised anxiety disorder, indicating that genetic factors overlap across anxiety disorders (li et al. 2011; Khanal et al. 2025).”
- Authors
- Khanal, P., Ståhlberg, T., Upadhyaya, S., Heinonen, E., Ortin-Peralta, A., & Sourander, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Turku (FI)
- Corresponding author
- Khanal, Prakash
- Venue
- Journal of Affective Disorders
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2025-01
- Volume
- 368
- Pages
- 374-382
- ISSN
- 0165-0327 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4402655370
- Cited by
- 7
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 1
- FWCI
- 3.51
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Affective Disorders (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UTUPub (University of Turku) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Research Council of Finland
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Family Support in Illness
- Keywords
- parental mental illness, childhood anxiety, adolescent anxiety, maternal mental illness, specific phobia, social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety, panic disorder, sex differences, genetic and environmental risk factors, anxiety prevention
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Anxiety Disorders, Mental Disorders, Child, Female, Finland, Humans, Male, Parents, Registries, Risk Factors, Case-Control Studies, Child of Impaired Parents
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