Using epidemiologic methods to test hypotheses regarding causal influences on child and adolescent mental disorders
Open accessAbstract
Epidemiology uses strong sampling methods and study designs to test refutable hypotheses regarding the causes of important health, mental health, and social outcomes. Epidemiologic methods are increasingly being used to move developmental psychopathology from studies that catalogue correlates of child and adolescent mental health to designs that can test rival hypotheses regarding causal genetic and environmental influences. A two-part strategy is proposed for the next phase of epidemiologic research. First, to facilitate the most informed tests of causal hypotheses, it is necessary to develop and test models of the structure of hypothesized genetic and environmental influences on mental health phenotypes. This will involve testing the related hypotheses that there are both (a) dimensions of psychopathology that are distinct in the sense of having at least some unique genetic and/or environmental influences, and (b) higher-order domains of correlated dimensions that are all apparently influenced in part by the same genetic and/or environmental factors. The resulting causal taxonomy would organize tests of causal hypotheses regarding both factors that may broadly increase risk for multiple dimensions of psychopathology and factors that may specifically increase risk for each individual dimension. Second, it is necessary to make greater use of a number of powerful epidemiologic designs that allow rigorous tests of rival hypotheses regarding genetic and environmental causes.
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Environmental risk factors including maternally related prenatal risks, pregnancy and birth complications, traumatic brain injuries and other external factors have been linked to ADHD.
“Environmental risk factors, including maternally related prenatal risks, pregnancy and birth complications, traumatic brain injuries and other external factors, have also been linked to ADHD (Lahey et al., 2009; Thapar and Rutter, 2009; Froehlich et al., 2011a; Thapar et al., 2012; Van Batenburg-Eddes et al., 2013; Adeyemo et al., 2014; Glover, 2014; Silva et al., 2014; Chang et al., 2018; Saez et”
From A Review of Heterogeneity in Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) (2019) · cites this paper as Lahey et al., 2009
The section “Testing Hypotheses Regarding Causal Risk Factors” (page unavailable) discusses maternal age, prenatal exposures, and a reported link between prenatal alcohol exposure and offspring conduct problems. It does not link those factors specifically to ADHD or address pregnancy and birth complications or traumatic brain injuries as ADHD risks; its ADHD passages concern symptom structure and comorbidity instead. (LLM, conf=0.83)
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Practitioner Review: What have we learnt about the causes of ADHD?
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“Environmental risk factors, including maternally related prenatal risks, pregnancy and birth complications, traumatic brain injuries and other external factors, have also been linked to ADHD (Lahey et al., 2009; Thapar and Rutter, 2009; Froehlich et al., 2011a; Thapar et al., 2012; Van Batenburg-Eddes et al., 2013; Ad…”
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Lahey, B. B., D’Onofrio, B. M., & Waldman, I. D.
- Affiliations
- University of Chicago (US)
- Emory University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Lahey, Benjamin B.
- Venue
- Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2009-01
- Volume
- 50
- Issue
- 1-2
- Pages
- 53-62
- ISSN
- 0021-9630 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-7610
- PMC
- PMC2819309
- OpenAlex
- W2023372840
- Cited by
- 45
- References
- 65
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 3 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 0.80
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression
- National Institutes of Health (5r01hd056354-06)
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH070025, R01MH070025, R01MH059111, MH59111, MH54281, U01MH054281)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD053550, R01-HD056354, R01HD053550, HD056354)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Mental Health Research Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Keywords
- child and adolescent mental disorders, developmental psychopathology, causal hypothesis testing, genetic factors, environmental influences, epidemiological study design
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Mental Disorders, Child, Epidemiologic Methods, Humans, Terminology as Topic, Phenotype, Risk Factors, International Classification of Diseases, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
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