Familial factors and the risk of borderline personality pathology: genetic and environmental transmission

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (8) ◽  
pp. 1327-1337
Author(s):  
Haya Fatimah ◽  
Brenton M. Wiernik ◽  
Claire Gorey ◽  
Matt McGue ◽  
William G. Iacono ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Familial Risk ◽  
Parental Psychopathology ◽  
Borderline Personality ◽  
Marital Discord ◽  
Adoptive Families ◽  
Genetic Transmission ◽  
Environmental Transmission ◽  
Familial Risk Factors ◽  
Twin Families

AbstractBackgroundParental characteristics and practices predict borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms in children. However, it is difficult to disentangle whether these effects are genetically or environmentally mediated. The present study examines the contributions of genetic and environmental influences by comparing the effects of familial risk factors (i.e. parental psychopathology and borderline traits, maladaptive parenting, marital discord) on child BPD traits in genetically related (biological) and non-related (adoptive) families.MethodsData are from 409 adoptive and 208 biological families who participated in the Siblings Interaction and Behavior Study (SIBS) and 580 twin families the Minnesota Twin Family Study (MTFS). Parent characteristics and practices included parental psychopathology (measured via structured clinical interviews), parental BPD traits, parenting behaviors, and marital discord. A series of multi-level regression models were estimated to examine the relationship of familial risk factors to child BPD traits and to test whether children's adoptive status moderated the association.ResultsSymptom counts of parents' conduct disorder, adult antisocial behavior, nicotine, alcohol, and illicit drug dependence, and paternal BPD traits substantially predicted child BPD traits only in biological offspring, implying genetic transmission. Maternal BPD traits and both maternal and paternal conflict, lack of regard, and lack of involvement predicted offspring BPD traits regardless of the adoptive status, implying environmental transmission.ConclusionsParental externalizing psychopathology and father's BPD traits contribute genetic risk for offspring BPD traits, but mothers' BPD traits and parents' poor parenting constitute environmental risks for the development of these offspring traits.

scholarly journals Understanding the relative contributions of direct environmental effects and passive genotype–environment correlations in the association between familial risk factors and child disruptive behavior disorders

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 831-844 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Bornovalova ◽  
J. R. Cummings ◽  
E. Hunt ◽  
R. Blazei ◽  
S. Malone ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Disruptive Behavior ◽  
Environmental Effects ◽  
Behavior Disorders ◽  
Environmental Effect ◽  
Disruptive Behavior Disorders ◽  
Familial Risk ◽  
Adoptive Families ◽  
Familial Risk Factors ◽  
Familial Environment

BackgroundPrevious work reports an association between familial risk factors stemming from parental characteristics and offspring disruptive behavior disorders (DBDs). This association may reflect (a) the direct effects of familial environment and (b) a passive gene–environment correlation (rGE), wherein the parents provide both the genes and the environment. The current study examined the contributions of direct environmental influences and passive rGE by comparing the effects of familial risk factors on child DBDs in genetically related (biological) and non-related (adoptive) families.MethodParticipants were 402 adoptive and 204 biological families. Familial environment was defined as maternal and paternal maladaptive parenting and antisociality, marital conflict and divorce; offspring DBDs included attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), conduct disorder (CD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). Mixed-level regressions estimated the main effects of familial environment, adoption status and the familial environment by adoption status interaction term, which tested for the presence of passive rGE.ResultsThere was a main effect of maternal and paternal maladaptive parenting and marital discord on child DBDs, indicating a direct environmental effect. There was no direct environmental effect of maternal or paternal antisociality, but maternal and paternal antisociality had stronger associations with child DBDs in biological families than adoptive families, indicating the presence of a passive rGE.ConclusionsMany familial risk factors affected children equally across genetically related and non-related families, providing evidence for direct environmental effects. The relationship of parental antisociality and offspring DBDs was best explained by a passive rGE, where a general vulnerability toward externalizing psychopathology is passed down by the parents to the children.

Familial risk factors and the familial aggregation of psychiatric disorders

1990 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth S. Kendler
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Risk Factor ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Genetic Factors ◽  
Familial Aggregation ◽  
Familial Risk ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Potential Importance ◽  
Obstetric Injury ◽  
Familial Risk Factors

SynopsisAll major psychiatric disorders aggregate in families. For most disorders, both genes and environmental factors play an important role in this aggregation. While recent work has tended to concentrate on the importance of genetic factors, this report focuses on the potential importance of environmental risk factors which themselves aggregate in families. In particular, this article examines how much of the familial aggregation of a psychiatric disorder may result from the familial aggregation of a risk factor. The model is illustrated and then applied to putative familial risk factors for schizophrenia and depression. The results of the model suggest that if parental loss and exposure to pathogenic rearing practices are true risk factors for depression, then they could account for a significant proportion of the familial aggregation of depression. By contrast, the model predicts that even if obstetric injury and low social class are true risk factors for schizophrenia, they together would account for only a very small proportion of the tendency for schizophrenia to aggregate in families.

Familial Risk Factors for Adolescent Suicide

2005 ◽  
pp. 41-50
Author(s):  
David A. Brent ◽  
Grace Moritz ◽  
Laura Liotus ◽  
Joy Schweers ◽  
Lisa Balach ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Adolescent Suicide ◽  
Familial Risk ◽  
Familial Risk Factors

scholarly journals Childhood family income, adolescent violent criminality and substance misuse: quasi-experimental total population study

2014 ◽  
Vol 205 (4) ◽  
pp. 286-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir Sariaslan ◽  
Henrik Larsson ◽  
Brian D'Onofrio ◽  
Niklas Långström ◽  
Paul Lichtenstein
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Low Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Substance Misuse ◽  
Family Income ◽  
Familial Risk ◽  
Income Quintile ◽  
Low Socioeconomic ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Familial Risk Factors ◽  
Family Based

BackgroundLow socioeconomic status in childhood is a well-known predictor of subsequent criminal and substance misuse behaviours but the causal mechanisms are questioned.AimsTo investigate whether childhood family income predicts subsequent violent criminality and substance misuse and whether the associations are in turn explained by unobserved familial risk factors.MethodNationwide Swedish quasi-experimental, family-based study following cohorts born 1989–1993 (ntotal = 526 167, ncousins = 262 267, nsiblings = 216 424) between the ages of 15 and 21 years.ResultsChildren of parents in the lowest income quintile experienced a seven-fold increased hazard rate (HR) of being convicted of violent criminality compared with peers in the highest quintile (HR = 6.78, 95% CI 6.23–7.38). This association was entirely accounted for by unobserved familial risk factors (HR = 0.95, 95% CI 0.44–2.03). Similar pattern of effects was found for substance misuse.ConclusionsThere were no associations between childhood family income and subsequent violent criminality and substance misuse once we had adjusted for unobserved familial risk factors.

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