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Cited by 145Genetic Associations and EpidemiologyChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentIntergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies

Parental characteristics and offspring mental health and related outcomes: a systematic review of genetically informative literature

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Jami, Eshim S., Hammerschlag, Anke R., Bartels, Meike, Middeldorp, Christel M.·2021·Translational Psychiatry
DOI 10.1038/s41398-021-01300-2PMC PMC8016911
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Abstract

Various parental characteristics, including psychiatric disorders and parenting behaviours, are associated with offspring mental health and related outcomes in observational studies. The application of genetically informative designs is crucial to disentangle the role of genetic and environmental factors (as well as gene–environment correlation) underlying these observations, as parents provide not only the rearing environment but also transmit 50% of their genes to their offspring. This article first provides an overview of behavioural genetics, matched-pair, and molecular genetics designs that can be applied to investigate parent–offspring associations, whilst modelling or accounting for genetic effects. We then present a systematic literature review of genetically informative studies investigating associations between parental characteristics and offspring mental health and related outcomes, published since 2014. The reviewed studies provide reliable evidence of genetic transmission of depression, criminal behaviour, educational attainment, and substance use. These results highlight that studies that do not use genetically informative designs are likely to misinterpret the mechanisms underlying these parent–offspring associations. After accounting for genetic effects, several parental characteristics, including parental psychiatric traits and parenting behaviours, were associated with offspring internalising problems, externalising problems, educational attainment, substance use, and personality through environmental pathways. Overall, genetically informative designs to study intergenerational transmission prove valuable for the understanding of individual differences in offspring mental health and related outcomes, and mechanisms of transmission within families.

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  • The small-study bias was due to inclusion of data from the ERA Study cohort, which comprised a comparatively small sample (N=90-148) with large effect sizes linked to severe institutional neglect.

    “We investigated the cause of this potential publication bias by performing leave-one-out analyses and found that it was due to the inclusion of data from one cohort, the ERA Study (15, 45, 46), which comprised a comparatively small sample (N=90-148) with large effect sizes linked to severe institutional neglect”

    From Childhood Maltreatment and Mental Health Problems: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Quasi-Experimental Studies (2023) · cites this paper as [15]

    The Results passages in our copy describe genetically informative studies of parental characteristics and offspring outcomes, but do not address the ERA Study cohort or the claimed cause of small-study bias. Searches for “ERA Study,” “publication bias leave-one-out analyses,” and “institutional neglect” found no passage supporting the sample size, effect sizes, or bias explanation; pages were not available in the indexed copy. (LLM, conf=0.75)

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [40]Ahmadzadeh, Y. I. et al. Parental criticism and adolescent internalising symptoms: associations remain after accounting for shared genetic effects. Preprint at medRxiv10.1101/2020.05.07.20084319 (2020).

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Authors
Jami, E. S., Hammerschlag, A. R., Bartels, M., & Middeldorp, C. M.
Affiliations
  • University College London (GB)
  • The University of Queensland (AU)
  • Amsterdam Public Health (NL)
Corresponding author
Jami, Eshim S.
ORCID
Venue
Translational Psychiatry
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2021-04-01
Volume
11
Issue
1
Pages
197-197
ISSN
2158-3188 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1038/s41398-021-01300-2
PMC
PMC8016911
OpenAlex
W3142122303
Cited by
145
References
126
Citations by year
2026: 26 · 2025: 39 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 27 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 7
FWCI
2.96
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Translational Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • VU Research Portal (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
  • EC | Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (721567)
  • Children’s Hospital Foundation and University of Queensland strategic funding
  • European Research Council consolidator grant
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies
Keywords
parent-offspring association, offspring mental health, intergenerational transmission, parental mental illness, parenting behaviour, paired design, molecular genetics, gene-environment correlation, depression, criminal behavior, educational attainment, substance use, internalizing problems, externalizing problems, personality, behavioral genetics
MeSH terms
Humans, Mental Health, Parent-Child Relations, Parents, Child of Impaired Parents, Parenting

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