2024

The socioeconomic consequences of loneliness: Evidence from a nationally representative longitudinal study of young adults

Bridget T. Bryan, 2024

The negative health consequences of loneliness have led to increasing concern about the economic cost of loneliness. However, there is limited investigation of this and most research has been cross-sectional and focused only on employment status. Therefore, here we explored whether twins who were lonelier at age 12 were more likely to be out of employment, education and training (NEET) and lower on employability and subjective social status as young adults.
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The relationship between type, timing and duration of exposure to adverse childhood experiences and adolescent self-harm and depression: findings from three UK prospective population-based cohorts

Bushra Farooq, 2024

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are well-established risk factors for self-harm and depression.However, there has been little focus on the impact of developmental timing and the duration of exposure to ACEs on co-occurring self-harm and depression. This paper investigated this issue using data from >22,000 children and adolescents participating in three UK cohorts followed up for 14–18 years: the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, the Millennium Cohort Study and the E-Risk Longitudinal Twin Study.
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Trajectories of childhood bullying behaviors and conduct problems: Associations with cognitive functioning in a nationally representative cohort study

Frédéric Thériault-Couture, 2024

Bullying behaviours and conduct problems are two forms of antisocial behaviour that frequently co-occur in childhood. However, it remains unclear whether their developmental trajectories are distinct and the extent to which different aspects of cognitive functioning account for their development. This paper explored this issue using data collected from E-Risk twins when they were aged 5, 7, 10, and 12 years.
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Do polygenic indices capture “direct” effects on child externalizing behavior problems? Within-family analyses in two longitudinal birth cohorts

Peter T. Tanksley, 2024

Many children who fail to develop self-control display externalising behaviours (e.g., aggression, rule-breaking) and are likely to have poor longer-term outcomes. Given the high heritability of externalising behaviours, researchers have been interested in incorporating direct measurements of genetic risk alongside other known risk factors to improve efforts at early identification/intervention. This paper used data from E-Risk twins and another UK cohort (the Millenium Cohort Study) to explore whether leveraging molecular genetic data and within-family designs could identify direct genetic effects on externalising behaviour problems in childhood and adolescence.

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Social isolation and poor mental health in young people: testing genetic and environmental influences in a longitudinal cohort study

Katherine N. Thompson, 2024

Social isolation is an established risk factor for poor mental health, although it has rarely been considered in young people. This paper used data from E-Risk twins to explore genetic and environmental influences on social isolation across childhood and the overlap between social isolation and mental health symptoms including depression symptoms, conduct problems, and psychotic-like experiences from adolescence to young adulthood.

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Why do prospective and retrospective measures of childhood maltreatment differ? Qualitative analyses in a cohort study

Oonagh Coleman, 2024

Research indicates that prospective and retrospective measures of childhood maltreatment often identify different groups of individuals, yet the reasons for these discrepancies remain understudied. This paper used interviewers’ notes obtained when the twins were assessed at age 18 to explore potential sources of disagreement between prospective and retrospective measures of maltreatment.

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Can a warm and supportive adult protect against mental health problems amongst children with experience of adversity? A twin-difference study.

Sarah Stock, 2024

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with mental health problems, but many children who experience ACEs do not develop such difficulties. This paper used the twin-difference design to strengthen causal inference about whether the presence of a warm and supportive adult protects E-Risk children exposed to ACEs from developing mental health problems at ages 12 and 18.

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Testing whether multi-level factors protect poly-victimised children against psychopathology in early adulthood: a longitudinal cohort study

Flora Blangis, 2024

Exposure to multiple forms of victimisation in childhood (often referred to as poly-victimisation) has lifelong adverse effects, including an elevated risk of early-adulthood psychopathology. However, not all poly-victimised children develop mental health difficulties and identifying what protects them could inform preventive interventions. The present study investigated whether individual-, family- and/or community-level factors were associated with lower levels of general psychopathology at age 18, among E-Risk twins exposed to poly-victimisation in childhood.

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2023

The general factor of psychopathology (p): Choosing among competing models and interpreting p

Avshalom Caspi, 2023

Over the past 10 years, the general factor of psychopathology, p, has attracted interest and scrutiny. We review the history of the idea that all mental disorders share something in common, p; how we arrived at this idea; and how it became conflated with a statistical representation, the bifactor model. We then examine the properties and nomological network of different statistical representations of p.
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Problematic technology use and sleep quality in young adulthood: novel insights from a nationally representative twin study

Juan J. Madrid-Valero, 2023

Digital technology use is associated with poor sleep quality in adolescence and young adulthood although research findings have been mixed. Here we used a genetically informative twin design to test the association between adolescents’ perceived problematic use of digital technology and poor sleep quality, and examine whether this association remains after controlling for familial factors, including genetic confounds.
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Social isolation, loneliness, and inflammation: A multi-cohort investigation in early and mid-adulthood

Timothy Matthews, 2023

Social isolation and loneliness have been associated with poor health and increased risk for mortality, and inflammation might explain this link. Here we investigated associations of social isolation with three markers of systemic inflammation: C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and a newer inflammation marker, soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR), which is thought to index systemic chronic inflammation.
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Socioenvironmental adversity and adolescent psychotic experiences: exploring potential mechanisms in a UK longitudinal cohort

Joanne B. Newbury, 2023

Children exposed to socioenvironmental adversities (e.g., urbanicity, pollution, neighbourhood deprivation, crime, and family disadvantage) are more likely to subsequently develop subclinical psychotic experiences during adolescence (e.g., hearing voices, paranoia). However, the pathways through which this occurs have not been previously investigated. Here we investigated whether cognitive ability and inflammation would partly explain this association.
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Cross-national and cross-generational evidence that educational attainment may slow the pace of aging in European-descent individuals

Karen Sugden, 2023

Individuals with more education are at lower risk of developing multiple, different age-related diseases than their less educated peers. A reason for this might be that individuals with more education age slower. Here, we tested whether the protective effect of educational attainment was associated with the biological pace of aging after accounting for genetic factors.
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Do children with ADHD symptoms become socially isolated? Longitudinal within-person associations in a nationally-representative cohort

Katherine N. Thompson, 2023

Social isolation in childhood can be detrimental to physical and mental health. Children with neurodevelopmental disorders, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), may be particularly at risk for becoming socially isolated. In this study, we examined longitudinal associations between ADHD symptoms and social isolation across childhood, while accounting for preexisting characteristics.
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Genetic associations with parental investment from conception to wealth inheritance in six cohorts

Jasmin Wertz, 2023

Genetic inheritance is not the only way parents’ genes may affect children. It is also possible that parents’ genes are associated with investments into children’s development. We examined evidence for links between parental genetics and parental investments, from the prenatal period through to adulthood, using data from six population-based cohorts.
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2022

Mother’s and children’s ADHD genetic risk, household chaos and children’s ADHD symptoms: A gene– environment correlation study

Jessica C. Agnew-Blais, 2022

Chaotic home environments may contribute to children’s attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. However, ADHD genetic risk may also influence household chaos. In this study we investigate whether children in chaotic households have more ADHD symptoms, if mothers and children with higher ADHD genetic risk live in more chaotic households, and the joint association of genetic risk and household chaos on the longitudinal course of ADHD symptoms across childhood.
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DunedinPACE, A DNA methylation biomarker of the Pace of Aging

Daniel W. Belsky, 2022

Measures to quantify changes in the pace of biological aging in response to intervention are needed to evaluate geroprotective interventions for humans. Previously, we showed that quantification of the pace of biological aging from a DNA-methylation blood test was possible (Belsky et al., 2020). Here, we report a next-generation DNA-methylation biomarker of Pace of Aging, DunedinPACE (for Pace of Aging Calculated from the Epigenome).
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Longitudinal associations between adolescents’ individual risk for depression and inflammation in a UK cohort study

Rachel M. Latham, 2022

Inflammation is associated with poor physical and mental health including major depressive disorder (MDD). Moreover, there is evidence that childhood adversity – a risk factor for MDD – becomes biologically embedded via elevated inflammation. However, the risk of developing MDD arises from multiple sources and yet there has been little investigation of the links between individuals’ constellation of MDD risk and subsequent inflammation. Here we examined the associations between individual risk for MDD calculated in early adolescence and levels of inflammation six years later.
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Violent experiences and neighbourhoods during adolescence: understanding and mitigating the association with mental health at the transition to adulthood in a longitudinal cohort study

Rachel M. Latham, 2022

Violence occurs at multiple ecological levels and can harm mental health. However, studies of adolescents' experience of violence have often ignored the community context of violence, and vice versa. Together with peer researchers, we examined how personal experience of severe physical violence and living in areas with high levels of neighbourhood disorder during adolescence combine to associate with mental health at the transition to adulthood and which factors mitigate this.
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The developmental course of loneliness in adolescence: Implications for mental health, educational attainment, and psychosocial functioning

Timothy Matthews, 2022

This study examined patterns of stability and change in loneliness across adolescence. Behavioural genetic modelling was used to evaluate to what extent stability in loneliness is explained by genetic and non-shared environments.
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Using a Loneliness Measure to Screen for Risk of Mental Health Problems: A Replication in Two Nationally Representative Cohorts

Timothy Matthews, 2022

Loneliness co-occurs alongside many mental health problems and is associated with poorer treatment outcomes. It could therefore be a phenomenon of interest to clinicians as an indicator of generalised risk for psychopathology. Here we tested whether a short measure of loneliness can accurately classify individuals who are at increased risk of common mental health problems.
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Automatic Detection of Expressed Emotion from Five-Minute Speech Samples: Challenges and Opportunities

Bahman Mirheidari and André Bittar, 2022

Here we present a novel feasibility study on the automatic recognition of Expressed Emotion (EE), a family environment concept based on caregivers speaking freely about their relative/family member. We describe an automated approach for determining the degree of warmth, a key component of EE, from acoustic and text features acquired from a sample of 37 recorded interviews.
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Trajectories of childhood social isolation in a nationally representative cohort: Associations with antecedents and early adulthood outcomes

Katherine N. Thompson, 2022

This study examined early life antecedents of childhood social isolation, whether these factors accounted for poor outcomes of isolated children, and how these associations varied according to patterns of stability and change in childhood isolation.
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Uncovering the genetic architecture of broad antisocial behavior through a genome-wide association study meta-analysis

J.J. Tielbeek, 2022

Despite the substantial heritability of antisocial behaviour (ASB), specific genetic variants robustly associated with the trait have not been identified. The present study by the Broad Antisocial Behavior Consortium (BroadABC) meta-analysed data from 28 discovery samples (N = 85,359) and five independent replication samples (N = 8058) with genotypic data and broad measures of ASB.
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Decline in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder traits over the life course in the general population: trajectories across five population birth cohorts spanning ages 3 to 45 years

Robyn E. Wootton, 2022

Trajectories of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) traits spanning early childhood to mid-life have not been described in general populations across different geographical contexts. Population trajectories are crucial to better understanding typical developmental patterns. Here we combine repeated assessments of ADHD traits from five population based cohorts, spanning ages 3 to 45 years.
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2021

Polygenic risk and the course of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder from childhood to young adulthood: Findings from a nationally-representative cohort

Jessica C. Agnew-Blais, 2021

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have begun to uncover the molecular basis of genetic risk for the disorder. In this study we look to understand whether a genetic risk for ADHD is associated with the course of the disorder across childhood and into young adulthood.
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Taxonomy of psychopathology: a work in progress and a call for interdisciplinary research

Louise Arseneault, 2021

Taxonomy is an essential element in the process of understanding and organizing concepts that form part of any scientific discipline. For mental health disciplines, including psychiatry and psychology, the process of classification is challenging because of issues related to both the conceptualization and the measurement of psychopathology. Some other scientific disciplines work with clearly defined sets of criteria to identify and categorize the phenomena they study. Mental health problems bring complex issues related to symptom presentation and comorbidity that have yet to be agreed on.
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Population vs Individual Prediction of Poor Health From Results of Adverse Childhood Experiences Screening

Jessie R. Baldwin, 2021

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are well-established risk factors for health problems in a population. However, it is not known whether screening for ACEs can accurately identify individuals who develop later health problems. This study suggests that, although ACE scores can forecast mean group differences in health, they have poor accuracy in predicting an individual’s risk of later health problems.
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The Polygenic Index Repository: Resource Profile and User Guide

Joel Becker, 2021

Polygenic indexes (PGIs) are DNA-based predictors. Their value for research in many scientific disciplines is growing rapidly. As a resource for researchers, we used a consistent methodology to construct PGIs for 47 phenotypes in 11 datasets. To maximize the PGIs' prediction accuracies, we constructed them using genome-wide association studies - some not previously published - from multiple data sources. We present a theoretical framework to help interpret analyses involving PGIs.
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Identifying adolescents at risk for major depressive disorder: Performance of a composite risk score in cohorts based in three 3 different continents

Thiago Botter-Maio Rocha, 2021

An adolescent depression risk score comprising easily obtainable predictors was developed with good prognostic performance in a Brazilian sample. Data from the 1993 Pelotas Birth Cohort were used to develop the prediction model, and its generalizability was evaluated in two representative cohort studies: the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study and the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study.
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Investigating the genetic architecture of noncognitive skills using GWAS-by-subtraction

Perline A. Demange, 2021

Little is known about the genetic architecture of traits affecting educational attainment other than cognitive ability. We used genomic structural equation modelling and prior genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of educational attainment and cognitive test performance to estimate SNP associations with educational attainment variation that is independent of cognitive ability. We identified 157 genome-wide-significant loci and a polygenic architecture accounting for 57% of genetic variance in educational attainment.
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Eleven genomic loci affect plasma levels of chronic inflammation marker soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor

Joseph Dowsett, 2021

Soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) is a chronic inflammation marker associated with the development of a range of diseases, including cancer and cardiovascular disease. The genetics of suPAR remain unexplored but may shed light on the biology of the marker and its connection to outcomes. We report a heritability estimate of 60% for the variation in suPAR and performed a genome-wide association meta-analysis on suPAR levels.
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Bullying behaviours and other conduct problems: longitudinal investigation of their independent associations with risk factors and later outcomes

Keertana Ganesan, 2021

Bullying behaviours and other conduct problems often co-occur. However, it is not yet known whether bullying behaviours are associated with early factors and later poor outcomes independently of conduct problems. While there are difering, specific interventions for bullying behaviours and for conduct problems, it is unclear if such specifcity is justifed given parallels between both behaviours.
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Assessing the co-variability of DNA methylation across peripheral cells and tissues: Implications for the interpretation of findings in epigenetic epidemiology

Eilis Hannon, 2021

As epigenetic variation is cell-type specific, an ongoing challenge in epigenetic epidemiology is how to interpret studies performed using bulk tissue (for example, whole blood) which comprises a mix of different cell types. In this study, we identify major differences in DNA methylation (DNAm) across multiple peripheral tissues and different blood cell types, with each sample type being characterized by a unique signature across multiple genomic loci.
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Genetic association study of childhood aggression across raters, instruments, and age

Hill F. Ip, 2021

Childhood aggressive behaviour (AGG) has a substantial heritability of around 50%. Here we present a genome-wide association meta-analysis (GWAMA) of childhood AGG, in which all phenotype measures across childhood ages from multiple assessors were included.
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Childhood exposure to ambient air pollution and predicting individual risk of depression onset in UK adolescents

Rachel M. Latham, 2021

A multivariable model to predict adolescents’ individual risk of future MDD has recently been developed however its performance in a UK sample was far from perfect. Given the potential role of air pollution in the aetiology of depression, we investigate whether including childhood exposure to air pollution as an additional predictor in the risk prediction model improves the identification of UK adolescents who are at greatest risk for developing MDD.
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Unravelling the contribution of complex trauma to psychopathology and cognitive deficits: a cohort study

Stephanie J. Lewis, 2021

Complex traumas are hypothesised to cause more severe psychopathology and poorer cognitive function than other non-complex traumas. However, empirical testing has been limited to clinical/convenience samples and cross-sectional designs. Here we investigate psychopathology and cognitive function in young people exposed to complex, non-complex or no trauma, from a population-representative longitudinal cohort, also considering the role of pre-existing vulnerabilities.
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This is what loneliness looks like: A mixed-methods study of loneliness in adolescence and young adulthood

Timothy Matthews, 2021

In this study we used quantitative and qualitative methods to explore how lonely young people are seen from others’ perspectives, in terms of their personality, behavior, and life circumstances. The findings add depth to the current conceptualization of loneliness and emphasize the complexity and intersectional nature of the circumstances severely lonely young adults live in.
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Genomic and phenotypic insights from an atlas of genetic effects on DNA methylation

Josine L. Min, 2021

Characterising genetic influences on DNA methylation (DNAm) provides an opportunity to understand mechanisms underpinning gene regulation and disease. In the present study, we describe results of DNAm quantitative trait locus (mQTL) analyses on 32,851 participants, identifying genetic variants associated with DNAm at 420,509 DNAm sites in blood.
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Association of Air Pollution Exposure in Childhood and Adolescence With Psychopathology at the Transition to Adulthood

Aaron Reuben, 2021

Air pollution (nitrogen oxides and particulate matter) exposure are known to damage the brain, but its associations with the development of psychopathology are not fully characterized. In this study, we assess whether air pollution exposure in childhood and adolescence is associated with greater psychopathology at 18 years of age.
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Past year intimate partner violence perpetration among people with depression: an individual participant data (IPD) meta-mediation analysis

Katherine R. K. Saunders, 2021

In this systematic review and individual participant data meta-mediation analysis, we investigated whether (1) depression is associated with increased risk of past-year intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration, disaggregated by sex, after controlling for potential confounders; and (2) whether observed associations are mediated by alcohol misuse or past-year IPV victimisation.
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Associations between childhood victimization, inflammatory biomarkers and psychotic phenomena in adolescence: A longitudinal cohort study

Antonella Trotta, 2021

Exposure to victimization in childhood has been linked to the development of psychosis. However, little is known about how childhood victimization is translated into biological risk for psychosis. One possibility is via increased inflammation. This study aimed to investigate the association between childhood victimization, psychotic experiences in adolescence and inflammatory markers using data from the E-Risk cohort.
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DNA methylation signatures of aggression and closely related constructs: A meta-analysis of epigenome-wide studies across the lifespan

Jenny van Dongen, 2021

DNA methylation profiles of aggressive behaviour may capture lifetime cumulative effects of genetic, stochastic, and environmental influences associated with aggression. Here, we report the first large meta-analysis of epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) of aggressive behaviour.
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Vital personality scores and healthy aging: Life-course associations and familial transmission

Jasmin Wertz, 2021

Personality traits are linked with healthy aging, but it is not clear how these associations come to manifest across the life-course and across generations. To study this question, we tested a series of hypotheses about (a) personality-trait prediction of markers of healthy aging across the life-course, (b) developmental origins, stability and change of links between personality and healthy aging across time, and (c) intergenerational transmission of links between personality and healthy aging.
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2020

Quantification of the pace of biological aging in humans through a blood test, the DunedinPoAm DNA methylation algorithm

Daniel W. Belsky, 2020

Biological aging is the gradual, progressive decline in system integrity that occurs with advancing chronological age, causing morbidity and disability. Measurements of the pace of aging are needed as surrogate endpoints in trials of therapies designed to prevent disease by slowing biological aging. We report a blood-DNA-methylation measure that is sensitive to variation in pace of biological aging among individuals born the same year.
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DNA methylation signatures of adolescent victimization: analysis of a longitudinal monozygotic twin sample

Radhika Kandaswamy, 2020

Accumulating evidence suggests that individuals exposed to victimization at key developmental stages may have different epigenetic fingerprints compared to those exposed to no/minimal stressful events, however results are inconclusive. This study aimed to strengthen causal inference regarding the impact of adolescent victimization on the epigenome by controlling for genetic variation, age, gender, and shared environmental exposures.
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Childhood maltreatment and poor functional outcomes at the transition to adulthood: a comparison of prospective informant and retrospective self-reports of maltreatment

Rachel M. Latham, 2020

Growing evidence suggests that prospective informant-reports and retrospective self-reports of childhood maltreatment may be diferentially associated with adult psychopathology. However, it remains unknown how associations for these two maltreatment reporting types compare when considering functional outcomes. This study compared associations between childhood maltreatment and functional outcomes at age 18 years using these two methods.
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A longitudinal twin study of victimisation and loneliness from childhood to young adulthood

Timothy Matthews, 2020

This study used a longitudinal and discordant twin design to explore in depth the developmental associations between victimization and loneliness from mid-childhood to young adulthood. Diverse forms of victimization were considered, differing across context, perpetrator, and timing of exposure. The results indicated that exposure to different forms of victimization was associated with loneliness in a dose–response manner.
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Developing an individualised risk calculator for psychopathology among young people victimized during childhood: A population-representative cohort study

Alan J. Meehan, 2020

Victimized children are at greater risk for psychopathology than non-victimized peers. However, not all victimized children develop psychiatric disorders, and accurately identifying which victimized children are at greatest risk for psychopathology is important to provide targeted interventions. This study sought to develop and internally validate individualized risk prediction models for psychopathology among victimized children.
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Does contact with the justice system deter or promote future delinquency? Results from a longitudinal study of British adolescent twins

Ryan T. Motz, 2020

What impact does formal punishment have on antisocial conduct — does it deter or promote it? The findings from a long line of research on the labeling tradition indicate formal punishments have the opposite-of-intended consequence of promoting future misbehavior. In another body of work, the results show support for deterrence-based hypotheses that punishment deters future misbehavior. So, which is it?
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Externalizing the threat from within: A new direction for researching associations between suicide and psychotic experiences

Jamie Murphy, 2020

A recent suicidal drive hypothesis posits that psychotic experiences (PEs) may serve to externalize internally generated and self-directed threat (i.e., self-injurious/suicidal behaviour [SIB]) in order to optimize survival; however, it must first be demonstrated that such internal threat can both precede and inform PEs. This study conducted the first known bidirectional analysis of SIB and PEs to test whether SIB could be considered as a plausible antecedent for PEs.
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Association between genetic and socioenvironmental risk for schizophrenia during upbringing in a UK longitudinal cohort

Joanne B. Newbury, 2020

Associations of socioenvironmental features like urbanicity and neighborhood deprivation with psychosis are well-established. An enduring question, however, is whether these associations are causal. Genetic confounding could occur due to downward mobility of individuals at high genetic risk for psychiatric problems into disadvantaged environments.
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Association of Adverse Experiences and Exposure to Violence in Childhood and Adolescence With Inflammatory Burden in Young People

Line J.H. Rasmussen, 2020

This study assesses whether exposure to adverse experiences, stress, and violence is associated with an increase in suPAR levels in young people. We test the hypothesis that measuring suPAR in addition to CRP or IL-6 levels improves the assessment of the inflammatory burden associated with early-life stress.
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Association of neighborhood disadvantage in childhood with DNA methylation in young adulthood

Aaron Reuben, 2020

This study looks to ascertain whether childhood neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage is associated with differences in DNA methylation by age 18 years. We found children raised in more socioeconomically disadvantaged neighbourhoods appeared to enter young adulthood epigenetically distinct from their less disadvantaged peers. This finding suggests that epigenetic regulation may be a mechanism by which the childhood neighborhood environment alters adult health.
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A polygenic score for age-at-first-birth predicts disinhibition

Leah S. Richmond-Rakerd, 2020

A recent genome‐wide association study identified molecular‐genetic associations with age‐at‐first‐birth. However, the meaning of these genetic discoveries is unclear. Drawing on evidence linking early pregnancy with disinhibitory behavior, we tested the hypothesis that genetic discoveries for age‐at‐first‐birth predict disinhibition.
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Adolescents' perceptions of family social status correlate with health and life chances: A twin-difference longitudinal cohort study

Joshua Rivenbark, 2020

Children from lower-income households are at increased risk for poor health, educational failure, and behavioral problems. This social gradient is one of the most reproduced findings in health and social science. How people view their position in social hierarchies also signals poor health. However, when adolescents’ views of their social position begin to independently relate to well-being is currently unknown. A cotwin design was leveraged to test whether adolescents with identical family backgrounds, but who viewed their family’s social status as higher than their same-aged and sex sibling, experienced better well-being in early and late adolescence.
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Associations between ADHD and emotional problems from childhood to young adulthood: A longitudinal genetically-sensitive study

Adi Stern, 2020

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with emotional problems, and their cooccurrence often leads to worse outcomes. We investigated the developmental associations between ADHD and emotional problems from childhood to early adolescence and examined the genetic and environmental contributions to their developmental link. We further tested whether this developmental association remained across the transition to young adulthood.
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Patterns of Reliability: Assessing the Reproducibility and Integrity of DNA Methylation Measurement

Karen Sugden, 2020

DNA methylation plays an important role in both normal human development and risk of disease. The most utilized method of assessing DNA methylation uses BeadChips, generating an epigenome-wide ‘‘snapshot’’ of >450,000 observations (probe measurements) per assay. However, the reliability of each of these measurements is not equal, and little consideration is paid to consequences for research.
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Identifying psychological pathways to polyvictimization evidence from a longitudinal cohort study of twins from the United Kingdom

Peter T. Tanksley, 2020

This study examined the extent to which cognitive/psychological characteristics predict later polyvictimization. We employed a twin-based design that allowed us to test the social neurocriminology hypothesis that environmental factors influence brain-based characteristics and influence behaviors like victimization.
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Mental health and functional outcomes in young adulthood of children with psychotic symptoms: A longitudinal cohort study

Antonella Trotta, 2020

Childhood psychotic symptoms have been associated with various psychiatric disorders in adulthood but their role as early markers of poor outcomes during the crucial transition to adulthood is largely unknown. Therefore, we investigated associations between age-12 psychotic symptoms and a range of mental health problems and functional outcomes at age 18.
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Borderline Symptoms at Age 12 Signal Risk for Poor Outcomes During the Transition to Adulthood: Findings From a Genetically Sensitive Longitudinal Cohort Study

Jasmin Wertz, 2020

Borderline personality disorder in adolescence remains a controversial construct. In this study, we addressed concerns about the prognostic significance of adolescent borderline pathology by testing whether borderline symptoms at age 12 years predict functioning during the transition to adulthood, at age 18 years, in areas critical to life-course development.
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2019

Are changes in ADHD diagnosis across development reflected in differences in IQ from childhood to young adulthood? A longitudinal genetically-sensitive cohort study

Jessica C. Agnew-Blais, 2019

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with poorer cognitive functioning. We used a developmental, genetically-sensitive approach to examine intelligence quotient (IQ) from early childhood to young adulthood among those with different ADHD courses to investigate whether changes in ADHD were reflected in differences in IQ. We also examined executive functioning in childhood and young adulthood among different ADHD courses.
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Adolescent Victimization and Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviours: A Genetically Sensitive Cohort Study

Jessie R. Baldwin, 2019

Victimized adolescents have an increased risk of self-injurious thoughts and behaviours. However, poor understanding of causal and noncausal mechanisms underlying this observed risk limits the development of interventions to prevent premature death in adolescents. This study tested whether pre-existing family-wide and individual vulnerabilities account for victimized adolescents’ increased risk of self-injurious thoughts and behaviours.
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Genetics and the geography of health, behaviour and attainment

Daniel W. Belsky, 2019

Young people’s life chances can be predicted by characteristics of their neighbourhood. Children growing up in disadvantaged neighbourhoods exhibit worse physical and mental health and suffer poorer educational and economic outcomes than children growing up in advantaged neighbourhoods. Increasing recognition that aspects of social inequalities tend, in fact, to be geographical inequalities 2–5 is stimulating research and focusing policy interest on the role of place in shaping health, behaviour and social outcomes.
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A risk score to predict adult Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity disorder: generation and external validation in three birth cohorts and one clinical sample

Arthur Caye, 2019

Few personalised medicine investigations have been conducted for mental health. In this study, we aimed to generate and validate a risk tool that predicts adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
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Maternal depression in the intergenerational transmission of childhood maltreatment and its sequelae: Testing postpartum effects in a longitudinal birth cohort

Karmel W. Choi, 2019

Mothers who have experienced childhood maltreatment are more likely to have children also exposed to maltreatment, a phenomenon known as intergenerational transmission. Factors in the perinatal period may contribute uniquely to this transmission, but timing effects have not been ascertained. We tested the mediating role of postpartum depression between maternal childhood maltreatment and a cascade of negative child outcomes, specifically child exposure to maltreatment, internalizing symptoms, and externalizing symptoms.

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Using discordant twin methods to investigate an environmentally mediated pathway between social support and the reduced likelihood of adolescent psychotic experiences

Eloise Crush, 2019

Social support has been shown to be associated with a reduced likelihood of developing psychotic experiences in the general population and even amongst those at high risk due to exposure to multiple forms of victimisation (poly-victimised). However, it is unclear whether this association is merely due to the confounding effects of shared environmental and genetic influences, or reverse causality. This study investigates whether social support has a unique environmentally mediated effect on adolescent psychotic experiences after accounting for familial factors, including genetic factors, and also prior psychopathology.
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Development of an individualised risk calculator for poor functioning in young people victimised during childhood: A longitudinal cohort study

Rachel M. Latham, 2019

Childhood victimization elevates the average risk of developing functional impairment in adulthood. However, not all victimized children demonstrate poor outcomes. Although research has described factors that confer vulnerability or resilience, it is unknown if this knowledge can be translated to accurately identify the most vulnerable victimized children. Here we build and internally validate a risk calculator to identify those victimized children who are most at risk of functional impairment at age 18 years.
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The epidemiology of trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder in a representative cohort of young people in England and Wales

Stephanie J. Lewis, 2019

Despite the emphasis placed on childhood trauma in psychiatry, comparatively little is known about the epidemiology of trauma and trauma-related psychopathology in young people. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the prevalence, clinical features, and risk factors associated with trauma exposure and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adolescents.
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Loneliness and Neighbourhood Characteristics: A Multi-Informant, Nationally Representative Study of Young Adults

Timothy Matthews, 2019

In this study, we investigated associations between the characteristics of the neighbourhoods in which young adults live and their feelings of loneliness, using data from different sources. Loneliness was measured via self-reports at ages 12 and 18 years and also by interviewer ratings at age 18. Neighbourhood characteristics were assessed between the ages of 12 and 18 via government data, systematic social observations, a resident survey, and participants’ self-reports.
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Association of Air Pollution Exposure With Psychotic Experiences During Adolescence

Joanne B. Newbury, 2019

Urbanicity is a well-established risk factor for clinical (eg, schizophrenia) and subclinical (eg, hearing voices and paranoia) expressions of psychosis. To our knowledge, no studies have examined the association of air pollution with adolescent psychotic experiences, despite air pollution being a major environmental problem in cities. Here we examine the association to test whether exposure mediates the association between urban residency and adolescent psychotic experiences.
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Residential neighbourhood greenery and children's cognitive development

Aaron Reuben, 2019

Children who grow up in neighbourhoods with more green vegetation show enhanced cognitive development in specific domains over short timespans. However, it is unknown if neighbourhood greenery per se is uniquely predictive of children's overall cognitive development measured across many years. In this study, we test whether residential neighbourhood greenery uniquely predicts children's cognitive development across childhood and adolescence.
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Protective Factors for Early Psychotic Phenomena Among Children of Mothers With Psychosis

Simon Riches, 2019

Early identification of sub-clinical psychotic experiences in at-risk individuals is vital to prevent the development of psychosis, even before prodromal symptoms emerge. A widely-replicated risk factor is having a family member with psychosis. Previously, we have shown that better cognitive functioning, a stimulating family environment, and a cohesive community, are protective against psychotic experiences among children; while engaging in physical activity, social support, and a cohesive community are protective for adolescents. Here we investigate whether these factors also protect against the development of sub-clinical psychotic phenomena among children and adolescents who are at high-risk of psychosis by having a mother with psychosis.
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Adolescents Who Self-Harm and Commit Violent Crime: Testing Early-Life Predictors of Dual Harm in a Longitudinal Cohort Study

Leah S. Richmond-Rakerd, 2019

Self-harm is associated with violent offending. However, little is known about young people who engage in “dual-harm” behaviour. In this study, we investigate antecedents, clinical features, and life characteristics distinguishing dual-harming adolescents from those who self-harm only.
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Exploration of NO2 and PM2.5 air pollution and mental health problems using high-resolution data in London-based children from a UK longitudinal cohort study

Susanna Roberts, 2019

Air pollution is a worldwide environmental health issue. Increasingly, reports suggest that poor air quality may be associated with mental health problems, but these studies often use global measures and rarely focus on early development when psychopathology commonly emerges. To address this, we combined high-resolution air pollution exposure estimates and prospectively-collected phenotypic data to explore concurrent and longitudinal associations between air pollutants of major concern in urban areas and mental health problems in childhood and adolescence.
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Longitudinal investigation of DNA methylation changes preceding adolescent psychotic experiences

Susanna Roberts, 2019

Childhood psychotic experiences (PEs), such as seeing or hearing things that others do not, or extreme paranoia, are relatively common with around 1 in 20 children reporting them at age 12. Childhood PEs are often distressing and can be predictive of schizophrenia, other psychiatric disorders, and suicide attempts in adulthood, particularly if they persist during adolescence. Previous research has demonstrated that methylomic signatures in blood could be potential biomarkers of psychotic phenomena. This study explores the association between DNA methylation (DNAm) and the emergence, persistence, and remission of PEs in childhood and adolescence.
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Establishing a generalized polyepigenetic biomarker for tobacco smoking

Karen Sugden, 2019

Large-scale epigenome-wide association meta-analyses have identified multiple ‘signatures’ of smoking. Drawing on these findings, here we describe the construction of a polyepigenetic DNA methylation score that indexes smoking behaviour and that can be utilized for multiple purposes in population health research. and theory-guided research in epigenetic epidemiology.
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Epigenome-wide Association Study of AttentionDeficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms in Adults

Jenny van Dongen, 2019

Previous studies have reported associations between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms and DNA methylation in children. We report the first epigenome-wide association study meta-analysis of adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms, based on peripheral blood DNA methylation (Infinium HumanMethylation450K array) in three population-based adult cohorts.
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Using DNA From Mothers and Children to Study Parental Investment in Children’s Educational Attainment

Jasmin Wertz, 2019

This study tested implications of new genetic discoveries for understanding the association between parental investment and children’s educational attainment. A novel design matched genetic data from 860 British mothers and their children with home-visit measures of parenting: the E-Risk Study. Three findings emerged.
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2018

Young adult mental health and functional outcomes among individuals with remitted, persistent and late-onset ADHD

Jessica C. Agnew-Blais, 2018

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with mental health problems and functional impairment across many domains. However, how the longitudinal course of ADHD affects later functioning remains unclear. Here we aim to disentangle how ADHD developmental patterns are associated with young adult functioning.
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Annual Research Review: The persistent and pervasive impact of being bullied in childhood and adolescence: implications for policy and practice

Louise Arseneault, 2018

It has been known for some time that being bullied is associated with children’s and adolescents’ adjustment difficulties and well-being. In recent years, we have come to recognise that the impact of childhood bullying victimisation on the development of mental health problems is more complex. This paper aims to review the evidence for an independent contribution of childhood bullying victimisation to the development of poor outcomes throughout the life span, including mental, physical and socioeconomic outcomes, and discuss the implications for policy and practice.
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Childhood victimization and inflammation in young adulthood: A genetically sensitive cohort study

Jessie R. Baldwin, 2018

Childhood victimization is an important risk factor for later immune-related disorders. Previous evidence has demonstrated that childhood victimization is associated with elevated levels of inflammation biomarkers measured decades after exposure. However, it is unclear whether this association is (1) already detectable in young people, (2) different in males and females, and (3) confounded by genetic liability to inflammation. Here we sought to address these questions.
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The Developmental Nature of the Victim-Offender Overlap

Ambler L. Beckley, 2018

It is well-established that victims and offenders are often the same people, a phenomenon known as the victim-offender overlap, but the developmental nature of this overlap remains uncertain. In this study, we drew from a developmental theoretical framework to test effects of genetics, individual characteristics, and routine activity-based risks. Drawing from developmental literature, we additionally tested the effect of an accumulation of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).
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Genetic analysis of social-class mobility in five longitudinal studies

Daniel W. Belsky, 2018

A summary genetic measure, called a “polygenic score,” derived from a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of education can modestly predict a person’s educational and economic success. This prediction could signal a biological mechanism: Education linked genetics could encode characteristics that help people get ahead in life. Alternatively, prediction could reflect social history: People from well-off families might stay well-off for social reasons, and these families might also look alike genetically. So, which is it?
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Protective Factors for Psychotic Symptoms Among Poly-victimized Children

Eloise Crush, 2018

Experiencing victimization in early life has been repeatedly shown to be associated with the emergence of psychotic symptoms in childhood. However, most victimized children do not develop psychotic symptoms and why this occurs is not fully understood. This study investigated which individual, family-level, and wider community characteristics were associated with an absence of psychotic symptoms among children at risk for psychosis by virtue of their exposure to multiple victimization experiences (poly-victimization).
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Girls get by with a little help from their friends: gender differences in protective effects of social support for psychotic phenomena amongst poly-victimised adolescents

Eloise Crush, 2018

In this study, we investigate whether social support (from family, friends, and overall) is protective for psychotic experiences similarly among poly-victimised adolescent girls and boys.
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Protective factors for psychotic experiences amongst adolescents exposed to multiple forms of victimization

Eloise Crush, 2018

Experiencing multiple types of victimization (poly-victimization) during adolescence is associated with the onset of psychotic experiences (such as hearing voices, having visions, or being extremely paranoid). However, many poly-victimized adolescents will not develop such subclinical phenomena and the factors that protect them are unknown. This study investigated whether individual, family, or community-level characteristics were associated with an absence of psychotic experiences amongst poly-victimized adolescents.
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Characterizing genetic and environmental influences on variable DNA methylation using monozygotic and dizygotic twins

Eilis Hannon, 2018

Variation in DNA methylation is being increasingly associated with health and disease outcomes. Although DNA methylation is hypothesized to be a mechanism by which both genetic and non-genetic factors can influence the regulation of gene expression, little is known about the extent to which DNA methylation at specific sites is influenced by heritable as well as environmental factors.
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Childhood Maltreatment Predicts Poor Economic and Educational Outcomes in the Transition to Adulthood

Sara R. Jaffee, 2018

In this study, we test whether childhood maltreatment was a predictor of (1) having low educational qualifications and (2) not being in education, employment, or training among young adults in twenty first century Britain.
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Analysis of DNA Methylation in Young People: Limited Evidence for an Association Between Victimization Stress and Epigenetic Variation in Blood

Sarah J. Marzi, 2018

DNA methylation has been proposed as an epigenetic mechanism by which early-life experiences become “embedded” in the genome and alter transcriptional processes to compromise health. In this report we sought to investigate whether early-life victimization stress is associated with genome-wide DNA methylation.
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Lonely young adults in modern Britain: findings from an epidemiological cohort study

Timothy Matthews, 2018

In this study, we aim to build a detailed, integrative profile of the correlates of young adults’ feelings of loneliness, in terms of their current health and functioning and their childhood experiences and circumstances.
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Associations between adolescent cannabis use and neuropsychological decline: a longitudinal co-twin control study

Madeline H. Meier, 2018

This study tested whether adolescents who used cannabis or met criteria for cannabis dependence showed neuropsychological impairment prior to cannabis initiation and neuropsychological decline from before to after cannabis initiation.
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Cumulative Effects of Neighbourhood Social Adversity and Personal Crime Victimization on Adolescent Psychotic Experiences

Joanne B. Newbury, 2018

Very little is known about the impact of urbanicity, adverse neighbourhood conditions and violent crime victimization on the emergence of adolescent psychotic experiences. Here, we aim to address that.
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Measuring childhood maltreatment to predict early-adult psychopathology: Comparison of prospective informant-reports and retrospective self-reports

Joanne B. Newbury, 2018

Both prospective informant-reports and retrospective self-reports may be used to measure childhood maltreatment, though both methods entail potential limitations such as underestimation and memory biases. The validity and utility of standard measures of childhood maltreatment requires clarification in order to inform the design of future studies investigating the mental health consequences of maltreatment. This study assessed agreement between prospective informant-reports and retrospective self-reports of childhood maltreatment, as well as the comparative utility of both reports for predicting a range of psychiatric problems at age 18.
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Adolescent Victimization and Early-Adult Psychopathology: Approaching Causal Inference Using a Longitudinal Twin Study to Rule Out Noncausal Explanations

Jonathan D. Schaefer, 2018

Adolescence is the peak age for both victimization and mental disorder onset. Previous research has reported associations between victimization exposure and many psychiatric conditions. However, causality remains controversial. In this report, we tested whether seven types of adolescent victimization increased risk of multiple psychiatric conditions and approached causal inference by systematically ruling out noncausal explanations.
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Associations between abuse/neglect and ADHD from childhood to young adulthood: A prospective nationally-representative twin study

Adi Stern, 2018

Child maltreatment has consistently been found to be associated with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, the robustness of this association and the direction of the link between maltreatment and ADHD remain unclear. Here we investigate the associations between exposure to abuse/neglect and ADHD in childhood and in young adulthood, and to test their robustness and specificity. We also test the longitudinal associations between abuse/neglect and ADHD from childhood to young adulthood, controlling for confounders.
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From Childhood Conduct Problems to Poor Functioning at Age 18 Years: Examining Explanations in a Longitudinal Cohort Study

Jasmin Wertz, 2018

Childhood conduct problems are associated with poor functioning in early adulthood. In this study, we test a series of hypotheses to understand the mechanisms underlying this association.
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Genetics and Crime: Integrating New Genomic Discoveries Into Psychological Research About Antisocial Behaviour

Jasmin Wertz, 2018

Drawing on psychological and sociological theories of crime causation, we test the hypothesis that genetic risk for low educational attainment (assessed via a genome-wide polygenic score) is associated with criminal offending. We further tested hypotheses of how polygenic risk relates to the development of antisocial behaviour from childhood through adulthood.
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2017

The Origins of Cognitive Deficits in Victimized Children: Implications for Neuroscientists and Clinicians

Andrea Danese, 2017

Individuals reporting a history of childhood violence victimization have impaired brain function. However, the clinical significance, reproducibility, and causality of these findings are disputed. Here we used data from two large cohort studies to address these research questions directly.
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ADHD and Sleep Quality: Longitudinal Analyses From Childhood to Early Adulthood in a Twin Cohort

Alice M. Gregory, 2017

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with poor sleep quality, but there is more to learn about the longitudinal association and aetiology of this association. In this study we look at the following: (a) Is there an association between childhood ADHD and poor sleep quality in young adulthood (b) Is this driven by the long-term effects of childhood ADHD or concurrent associations with ADHD in young adulthood (c) To what extent do genetic and environmental influences explain the overlap between symptoms of ADHD and poor sleep quality
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Buffering effects of safe, supportive, and nurturing relationships among women with childhood histories of maltreatment

Sara R. Jaffee, 2017

Adults who were victims of childhood maltreatment tend to have poorer health compared with adults who did not experience abuse. However, many are in good health. We tested whether safe, supportive, and nurturing relationships buffer women with a history of childhood maltreatment from poor health outcomes in later life.
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Sleeping with one eye open: loneliness and sleep quality in young adults

Timothy Matthews, 2017

Feelings of loneliness are common among young adults and are hypothesized to impair the quality of sleep. In this study, we tested these associations between loneliness and sleep quality. Further, based on the hypothesis that sleep problems in lonely individuals are driven by increased vigilance for threat, we tested whether past exposure to violence exacerbated this association.
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In the eye of the beholder: Perceptions of neighborhood adversity and psychotic experiences in adolescence

Joanne B. Newbury, 2017

Adolescent psychotic experiences increase risk for schizophrenia and other severe psychopathology in adulthood. Converging evidence implicates urban and adverse neighbourhood conditions in the etiology of adolescent psychotic experiences, but the role of young people’s personal perceptions of disorder in their neighbourhood is unknown. What would we find in our cohort?
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Is low cognitive functioning a predictor or consequence of major depressive disorder? A test in two longitudinal birth cohorts

Jonathan D. Schaefer, 2017

Cognitive impairment has been identified as an important aspect of major depressive disorder (MDD). We tested two theories regarding the association between MDD and cognitive functioning using data from 2 longitudinal cohort studies.
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2016

Evaluation of the Persistence, Remission, and Emergence of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Young Adulthood

Jessica C. Agnew-Blais, 2016

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is now recognized to occur in adulthood and is associated with a range of negative outcomes. However, less is known about the prospective course of ADHD into adulthood, the risk factors for its persistence, and the possibility of its emergence in young adulthood in nonclinical populations. We investigated childhood risk factors and young adult functioning of individuals with persistent, remitted and late on-set young adult ADHD.
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Childhood Bullying Victimization and Overweight in Young Adulthood: A Cohort Study

Jessie R. Baldwin, 2016

Here we test whether bullied children have an elevated risk of being overweight in young adulthood and whether this association is: (1) consistent with a dose-response relationship, namely, its strength increases with the chronicity of victimization; (2) consistent across different measures of overweight; (3) specific to bullying and not explained by co-occurring maltreatment; (4) independent of key potential confounders; and (5) consistent with the temporal sequence of bullying preceding overweight.
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Life Span Studies of ADHD—Conceptual Challenges and Predictors of Persistence and Outcome

Arthur Caye, 2016

There is a renewed interest in better conceptualizing trajectories of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) from childhood to adulthood, driven by an increased recognition of long-term impairment and potential persistence beyond childhood and adolescence. This review addresses some major issues relevant to the course of ADHD considering current evidence from longitudinal studies.
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Committed to work but vulnerable: self-perceptions and mental health in NEET 18-year olds from a contemporary British cohort

Sidra Goldman-Mellor, 2016

Labour market disengagement among youths has lasting negative economic and social consequences yet is poorly understood. We compared four types of work-related self-perceptions, as well as vulnerability to mental health and substance abuse problems, among youths not in education, employment or training (NEET) and among their peers.
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Social isolation, loneliness and depression in young adulthood: a behavioural genetic analysis

Timothy Matthews, 2016

This study set out to investigate the association between social isolation and loneliness, how they relate to depression, and whether these associations are explained by genetic influences.
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Why are Children in Urban Neighborhoods at Increased Risk for Psychotic Symptoms? Findings From a UK Longitudinal Cohort Study

Joanne B. Newbury, 2016

Urban upbringing is associated with a 2-fold adulthood psychosis risk, and this association replicates for childhood psychotic symptoms. No study has investigated whether specific features of urban neighbourhoods increase children’s risk for psychotic symptoms, despite these early psychotic phenomena elevating risk for schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders in adulthood. This study aims to explore this.
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Parental monitoring and knowledge: Testing bidirectional associations with youths’ antisocial behavior

Jasmin Wertz, 2016

The aim of this study is to disentangle pervasive from situational antisocial behaviours using multiple informants, and to investigate their genetic and environmental etiologies in preadolescence and across time.
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Etiology of Pervasive Versus Situational Antisocial Behaviors: A Multi-Informant Longitudinal Cohort Study

Jasmin Wertz, 2016

In this study, we used separate measures of parental monitoring and parental knowledge and compared their associations with youths’ antisocial behaviour during preadolescence, between the ages of 10 and 12.
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2015

Measuring adolescents’ exposure to victimization: The Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study

Helen L. Fisher, 2015

This study uses a combination of the best practices in survey research on victimisation with optimal approaches to measuring life stress and traumatic experiences, in order to present multilevel findings on adolescents’ victimization exposure.
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Methylomic analysis of monozygotic twins discordant for childhood psychotic symptoms

Helen L. Fisher, 2015

Childhood psychotic symptoms are associated with increased rates of psychiatric disorders, and suicide attempts in adulthood. There is considerable discordance for psychotic symptoms between monozygotic twins, indicating that child-specific nongenetic factors must be involved. Epigenetic processes may constitute one of these factors; therefore, this study explored whether differences in DNA methylation at age 10 were associated with monozygotic twin discordance for psychotic symptoms at age 12.
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Social Isolation and Mental Health at Primary and Secondary School Entry: A Longitudinal Cohort Study

Timothy Matthews, 2015

In this study we investigate whether children who are socially isolated early in their schooling develop mental health problems in early adolescence, taking into account their mental health and family risk at school entry.
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Methylomic markers of persistent childhood asthma: a longitudinal study of asthma-discordant monozygotic twins

Therese M. Murphy, 2015

The aetiology of asthma pathology is complex; it is highly heterogeneous, and the genetic and environmental interplay suggests the involvement of epigenetic processes. Our aim was to explore whether methylomic variation in early childhood is associated with discordance for asthma symptoms within monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs. We also aimed to identify differences in DNA methylation that are associated with asthma that develops in childhood and persists into early adulthood.
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Living alongside more affluent neighbors predicts greater involvement in antisocial behavior among low-income boys

Candice L. Odgers, 2015

The creation of economically mixed communities has been proposed as one way to improve the life outcomes of children growing up in poverty. However, whether low-income children benefit from living alongside more affluent neighbours is unknown. So, what did we find?
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Intimate partner violence and new-onset depression: A longitudinal study of women's childhood and adult histories of abuse

Isabelle Ouellet-Morin, 2015

Studies indicate that women victims of intimate partner violence are at increased risk for poor mental health. This research disentangled the effect of partner violence on new-onset depression and psychosis spectrum symptoms from effects of child maltreatment and other confounding factors. This allows us to focus on the effects of partner violence, and whether this independently contributes to women’s poor mental health.
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Why some children with externalising problems develop internalising symptoms: testing two pathways in a genetically sensitive cohort study

Jasmin Wertz, 2015

Children with externalising problems are at risk of developing internalising problems as they grow older. The pathways underlying this developmental association remain to be elucidated. We tested two processes that could explain why some children with externalising problems develop internalising symptoms in preadolescence: a mediation model whereby the association between early externalising and later new internalising symptoms is explained by negative experiences; and a genetic model, whereby genes influence both problems.
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2014

Leptin deficiency in maltreated children

Andrea Danese, 2014

Consistent with findings from experimental research in nonhuman primates exposed to early-life stress, children exposed to maltreatment are at high risk of detrimental physical health conditions. Because leptin is a key molecule involved in the regulation of both energy balance and immunity, here we investigate abnormalities in leptin physiology among maltreated children.
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Is childhood cruelty to animals a marker for physical maltreatment in a prospective cohort study of children?

Fiona S. McEwen, 2014

Childhood cruelty to animals is thought to indicate that a child may have been maltreated. This study examined: (a) prevalence of cruelty to animals among 5 to 12 year old children; (b) the association between cruelty to animals, child physical maltreatment, and adult domestic violence; and (c) whether cruelty to animals is a marker of maltreatment considering age, persistence of cruelty, and socioeconomic disadvantage.
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2013

Chronic bullying victimization across school transitions: The role of genetic and environmental influences

Lucy Bowes, 2013

Here we investigate the antecedents and consequences of chronic victimization by bullies across a school transition using a genetically sensitive longitudinal design.
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Safe, Stable, Nurturing Relationships Break the Intergenerational Cycle of Abuse: A Prospective Nationally Representative Cohort of Children in the United Kingdom

Sara R. Jaffee, 2013

This study aimed to identify contextual and interpersonal factors that distinguish families in which the intergenerational transmission of maltreatment is maintained from families in which the cycle is broken.
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Childhood exposure to violence and lifelong health: Clinical intervention science and stress-biology research join forces

Terrie E. Moffitt, 2013

Many young people who are mistreated by an adult, victimized by bullies, criminally assaulted, or who witness domestic violence react to this violence exposure by developing behavioral, emotional, or learning problems. What is less well known is that adverse experiences like violence exposure can lead to hidden physical alterations inside a child’s body, alterations that may have adverse effects on life-long health. We discuss why this is important for the field of developmental psychopathology and for society, and we recommend that stress-biology research and intervention science join forces to tackle the problem.
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Increased serotonin transporter gene (SERT) DNA methylation is associated with bullying victimization and blunted cortisol response to stress in childhood: a longitudinal study of discordant monozygotic twins

Isabelle Ouellet-Morin, 2013

Childhood adverse experiences are known to induce persistent changes in the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis reactivity to stress. However, the mechanisms by which these experiences shape the neuroendocrine response to stress remain unclear. Here we test whether bullying victimisation influenced serotonin transported gene (SERT) DNA methylation using a discordant monozygotic twin design.
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Exposure to violence during childhood is associated with telomere erosion from 5 to 10 years of age: a longitudinal study

Idan Shalev, 2013

There is increasing interest in discovering mechanisms that mediate the effects of childhood stress on late-life disease morbidity and mortality. We examined telomere erosion in relation to children’s exposure to violence, a salient early-life stressor, which has known long-term consequences for well-being and is a major public-health and social-welfare problem.
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2012

Etiological features of borderline personality related characteristics in a birth cohort of 12-year-old children

Daniel W. Belsky, 2012

It has been reported that borderline personality related characteristics can be observed in children, and that these characteristics are associated with increased risk for the development of borderline personality disorder. It is not clear whether borderline personality related characteristics in children share etiological features with adult borderline personality disorder. We investigated the etiology of borderline personality related characteristics in a longitudinal cohort study.
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Bullying victimisation and risk of self harm in early adolescence: longitudinal cohort study

Helen L Fisher, 2012

This study aimed to test whether frequent bullying victimisation in childhood increases the likelihood of self-harming in early adolescence, and to identify which bullied children are at highest risk of self-harm.
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Maternal Insomnia and Children’s Family Socialization Environments

Alice M. Gregory, 2012

This study targeted a sample of 1116 mothers and examined concurrent links between insomnia and different aspects of the family socialization environment provided for children.
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Supportive parenting mediates widening neighborhood socioeconomic disparities in children’s antisocial behavior from ages 5 to 12

Candice L. Odgers, 2012

In this article we report a graded relationship between neighbourhood socioeconomic status (SES) and children’s antisocial behaviour that (1) can be observed at school entry, (2) widens across childhood, (3) remains after controlling for family-level SES and risk, and (4) is completely mediated by maternal warmth and parental monitoring (defined throughout as supportive parenting).
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A prospective longitudinal study of children’s theory of mind and adolescent involvement in bullying

Sania Shakoor, 2012

Theory of mind (ToM) allows the understanding and prediction of other people’s behaviours based on their mental states (e.g., beliefs). It is important for healthy social relationships and thus may contribute towards children’s involvement in bullying. The present study investigated whether children involved in bullying during early adolescence had poor ToM in childhood.
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2011

Childhood Trauma and Children's Emerging Psychotic Symptoms: A Genetically Sensitive Longitudinal Cohort Study

Louise Arseneault, 2011

Using longitudinal and prospective measures of trauma during childhood, we assessed the risk of developing psychotic symptoms associated with maltreatment, bullying, and accidents.
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Biological embedding of stress through inflammation processes in childhood

Andrea Danese, 2011

Children exposed to adverse psychosocial experiences show elevated disease risk in adulthood. It is therefore important to characterize the biological mechanisms through which children may acquire such lasting vulnerability to disease, namely, the mechanisms of biological embedding.
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Predictors and Outcomes of Joint Trajectories of Callous-Unemotional Traits and Conduct Problems in Childhood

Nathalie M.G. Fontaine, 2011

Callous– unemotional (CU) traits are associated with antisocial and delinquent behaviours in children and represent a potential risk factor for adult psychopathy. However, there is a paucity of longitudinal research that explores the development of these traits, their longitudinal association with conduct problems (CP), and their psychosocial predictors and outcomes. We describe the joint developmental trajectories of CU traits and CP during childhood and examined the child- and family-level predictors and concomitant outcomes associated with the trajectories.
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A gradient of childhood self-control predicts health, wealth, and public safety

Terrie E. Moffitt, 2011

Policymakers are considering large-scale programs aimed at self-control to improve citizens’ health and wealth and reduce crime. Experimental and economic studies suggest such programs could reap benefits. Yet is self-control important for the health, wealth, and public safety of the population?
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A Discordant Monozygotic Twin Design Shows Blunted Cortisol Reactivity Among Bullied Children

Isabelle Ouellet-Morin, 2011

Childhood adverse experiences are known to engender persistent changes in stress related systems and brain structures involved in mood, cognition, and behaviour in animal models. Uncertainty remains about the causal effect of early stressful experiences on physiological response to stress in human beings, as the impact of these experiences has rarely been investigated while controlling for both genetic and shared environmental influences. We tested whether bullying victimisation influences cortisol responses to psychosocial stress tests.
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Blunted Cortisol Responses to Stress Signal Social and Behavioral Problems Among Maltreated/Bullied 12-Year-Old Children

Isabelle Ouellet-Morin, 2011

Evidence from animal and human studies suggests that early-life stress such as physical maltreatment has long-lasting effects on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and is associated with blunted HPA axis reactivity in adulthood. Few studies have investigated whether blunted HPA axis reactivity observed in children exposed to early-life stress signals social, emotional, and behavioural problems.
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Mothers and Children as Informants of Bullying Victimization: Results from an Epidemiological Cohort of Children

Sania Shakoor, 2011

This study aimed to (1) investigate whether mothers and children provide valid reports of bullying victimization, (2) examine the inter-rater reliability between the two informants, (3) test the predictive validity of their reports with children’s emotional and behavioural problems and (4) compare the genetic and environmental etiology of bullying victimization as reported by mothers and children.
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Serotonin transporter gene moderates childhood maltreatment's effects on persistent but not single-episode depression: Replications and implications for resolving inconsistent results

Rudolf Uher, 2011

Genetic and environmental factors shape life-long vulnerability to depression, but most gene–environment interaction (G×E) research has focused on cross-sectional assessments rather than life-course phenotypes. This study tests the hypothesis that the G×E involving the length polymorphism in the serotonin-transporter-gene-linked-promoter-region (5-HTTLPR) and childhood maltreatment is specific to depression that runs a persistent course in adulthood.
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A Longitudinal Twin Study of Skewed X Chromosome Inactivation

Chloe C.Y. Wong, 2011

X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) is a pivotal epigenetic mechanism involved in the dosage compensation of X-linked genes between males and females. In any given cell, the process of XCI in early female development is thought to be random across alleles and clonally maintained once established. The factors influencing such XCI skewing and its changes over time are largely unknown.
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Interaction of FKBP5 Gene Variants and Adverse Life Events in Predicting Depression Onset: Results From a 10-Year Prospective Community Study

Petra Zimmermann, 2011

The binding protein FKBP5 is an important modulator of the function of the glucocorticoid receptor, the main receptor of the stress hormone system. This turns the FKBP5 gene into a key candidate for gene-environment interactions, which are considered critical for pathogenesis of stress-related disorders. The authors explored gene-environment interactions between FKBP5 gene variants and adverse life events in predicting the first occurrence of a major depressive episode.
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2010

Bullying victimization in youths and mental health problems: ‘Much ado about nothing’?

Louise Arseneault, 2010

Children and adolescents who are victimized by bullies show signs of distress and adjustment problems. However, it is not clear whether bullying is the source of these difficulties. This paper reviews empirical evidence to determine whether bullying victimization is a significant risk factor for psychopathology.
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Context and Sequelae of Food Insecurity in Children’s Development

Daniel W. Belsky, 2010

In this study we examined the role of food insecurity in the etiology of children’s cognitive and mental health problems.
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Families promote emotional and behavioural resilience to bullying: evidence of an environmental effect

Lucy Bowes, 2010

Bullied children are at risk for later emotional and behavioural problems. ‘Resilient’ children function better than would be expected given their experience of bullying victimisation. This study examined the role of families in promoting resilience following bullying victimisation in primary school.
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Genetic sensitivity to the environment: The case of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTT) and its implications for studying complex diseases and traits

Avshalom Caspi, 2010

Evidence of marked variability in response among people exposed to the same environmental risk implies that individual differences in genetic susceptibility might be at work. The study of such Gene-by-Environment (GxE) interactions has gained momentum. In this article, we review research about one of the most extensive areas of inquiry: variation in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4; also known as 5-HTT) and its contribution to stress sensitivity.
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The Challenging Pupil in the Classroom: The Effect of the Child on the Teacher

Renate M. Houts, 2010

Teaching children requires effort, and some children naturally require more effort than others. In this study, we tested whether teacher effort devoted to individual children varies as a function of each child’s personal characteristics.
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Etiological and Clinical Features of Childhood Psychotic Symptoms

Guilherme Polanczyk, 2010

This study examines the construct validity of children’s self-reported psychotic symptoms by testing whether these symptoms share the risk factors and clinical features of adult schizophrenia.
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Implications of Extending the ADHD Age-of-Onset Criterion to Age 12: Results from a Prospectively Studied Birth Cohort

Guilherme Polanczyk, 2010

This study aimed to evaluate whether including children with onset of symptoms between ages 7 and 12 years in the ADHD diagnostic category would: (a) increase the prevalence of the disorder at age 12, and (b) change the clinical and cognitive features, impairment profile, and risk factors for ADHD compared with findings in the literature based on the DSM-IV definition of the disorder.
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Serotonin Transporter Gene Moderates the Development of Emotional Problems Among Children Following Bullying Victimization

Karen Sugden, 2010

Being the victim of bullying is associated with a broad spectrum of emotional problems; however, not all children who are bullied go on to develop such problems. We tested the hypothesis that the relationship between bullying victimization and emotional problems was moderated by variation in the serotonin transporter (5-HTT) gene.
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A longitudinal study of epigenetic variation in twins

Chloe C.Y. Wong, 2010

DNA methylation is a key epigenetic mechanism involved in the developmental regulation of gene expression. Alterations in DNA methylation are established contributors to inter-individual phenotypic variation and have been associated with disease susceptibility. The degree to which changes in loci-specific DNA methylation are under the influence of heritable and environmental factors is largely unknown.
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2009

School, Neighborhood, and Family Factors Are Associated With Children’s Bullying Involvement: A Nationally Representative Longitudinal Study

Lucy Bowes, 2009

This study aims to test whether school, neighbourhood, and family factors are independently associated with children’s involvement in bullying, over and above their own behaviours that may increase their risk for becoming involved in bullying.
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Five-year predictive validity of DSM-IV conduct disorder research diagnosis in 4½–5-year-old children

Julia Kim-Cohen, 2009

This longitudinal study of a non-referred, population-based sample tested the 5-year predictive validity of the DSM-IV conduct disorder (CD) research diagnosis in children 4½-5 years of age.
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Mental Health Context of Food Insecurity: a Representative Cohort of Families With Young Children

Maria Melchior, 2009

To clarify whether addressing mothers’ mental health problems may be a promising strategy for reducing the burden of food insecurity, we tested the hypothesis that low-SES families are especially vulnerable to food insecurity when the mother experiences depression, alcohol or drug abuse, psychosis spectrum disorder, or domestic violence.
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The Protective Effects of Neighborhood Collective Efficacy on British Children Growing Up in Deprivation: A Developmental Analysis

Candice L. Odgers, 2009

This article reports on the influence of neighbourhood-level deprivation and collective efficacy on children’s antisocial behaviour between the ages of 5 and 10 years.
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Protective Effect of CRHR1 Gene Variants on the Development of Adult Depression Following Childhood Maltreatment

Guilherme Polanczyk, 2009

A previous study reported a gene-environment interaction in which a haplotype in the corticotropin-releasing hormone receptor 1 gene (CRHR1) was associated with protection against adult depressive symptoms in individuals who were maltreated as children. The authors aimed to replicate this interaction.
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2008

Being Bullied as an Environmentally Mediated Contributing Factor to Children’s Internalizing Problems

Louise Arseneault, 2008

The authors aimed to test whether the experience of being bullied has an environmentally mediated effect on internalizing symptoms in young children.
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Genetic and environmental influences on victims, bullies and bully-victims in childhood

Harriet A. Ball, 2008

Victims, bullies, and bully-victims, who are both bullies and victims of bullying, are the three groups involved in bullying. Understanding the origins of these groups is important since they have elevated emotional and behavioural problems. No research has examined the genetic and environmental influences on these social roles.
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A Replicated Molecular Genetic Basis for Subtyping Antisocial Behavior in Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Avshalom Caspi, 2008

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disorder that in some cases is accompanied by antisocial behaviour. This study aims to test whether variations in the catechol O-methyltransferase gene (COMT) would prove useful in identifying the subset of children with ADHD who exhibit antisocial behaviour.
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Unintentional Injuries in a Twin Study of Preschool Children: Environmental, Not Genetic, Risk Factors

Juan R. Ordoñana, 2008

Here we aimed to analyse the relative contribution of latent genetic and environmental factors to differences in the injury liability of children, and to examine the association between measured socio-economic, family, and child-behaviour variables and unintentional injury risk.
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Heritability of antisocial behaviour at 9: Do callous-unemotional traits matter?

Essi Viding, 2008

A previous finding from our group indicated that teacher-rated antisocial behaviour (AB) among 7-year-olds is particularly heritable in the presence of callous-unemotional (CU) traits. Here we employed DeFriesFulker extremes analysis to investigate whether teacher-rated AB with/without CU traits also shows aetiological differences among 9-year-olds.
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2007

Moderation of breastfeeding effects on the IQ by genetic variation in fatty acid metabolism

Avshalom Caspi, 2007

Children’s intellectual development is influenced by both genetic inheritance and environmental experiences. Breastfeeding is one of the earliest such postnatal experiences. Breastfed children attain higher IQ scores than children not fed breast milk, presumably because of the fatty acids uniquely available in breast milk. Here we show that the association between breastfeeding and IQ is moderated by genetic variation.
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Individual, family, and neighborhood factors distinguish resilient from non-resilient maltreated children: A cumulative stressors model

Sara R. Jaffee, 2007

Children who are physically maltreated are at risk of a range of adverse outcomes in childhood and adulthood, but some children who are maltreated manage to function well despite their history of adversity. We tested which individual, family, and neighborhood characteristics distinguish resilient from non-resilient maltreated children, and whether children’s individual strengths promote resilience, even when children are exposed to multiple stressors.
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Birthweight Predicts IQ: Fact or Artefact?

Rhiannon Newcombe, 2007

It has been shown that lower birthweight is associated with lower IQ, but it remains unclear whether this association is causal or spurious. We examined the relationship between birthweight and IQ in two prospective longitudinal birth cohorts.
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2006

Bullying Victimization Uniquely Contributes to Adjustment Problems in Young Children: A Nationally Representative Cohort Study

Louise Arseneault, 2006

It has been shown that bullying victimization is associated with behaviour and school adjustment problems, but it remains unclear whether the experience of bullying uniquely contributes to those problems after considering pre-existing adjustment problems.
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The Caregiving Environments Provided to Children by Depressed Mothers With or Without an Antisocial History

Julia Kim-Cohen, 2006

Many depressed women have a history of antisocial behaviour, but research into maternal depression has not ascertained if this has implications for children of depressed mothers. This study compared the developmental outcomes in caregiving environments provided to children by depressed mothers with or without an antisocial history.
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MAOA, maltreatment, and gene–environment interaction predicting children’s mental health: new evidence and a meta-analysis

Julia Kim-Cohen, 2006

Previous research on adults has shown that a functional polymorphism in the promoter region of the monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene moderates the impact of childhood maltreatment on risk for developing antisocial behavior. This study (i) presents new data investigating this finding, and (ii) evaluates the extant data by conducting a meta-analysis of published findings.
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Genetic Influences on the Overlap Between Low IQ and Antisocial Behavior in Young Children

Karestan C. Koenen, 2006

The well-documented relation between the phenotypes of low IQ and childhood antisocial behavior could be explained by either common genetic influences or environmental influences. This study examines these competing explanations.
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Prediction of Heterogeneity in Intelligence and Adult Prognosis by Genetic Polymorphisms in the Dopamine System Among Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Jonathan Mill, 2006

This study aims to test the hypothesis that the DRD4 seven repeat allele and DAT1 ten-repeat allele would prove useful in identifying a subset of children with attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who have compromised intellectual functions.
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Evidence for Monozygotic Twin (MZ) Discordance in Methylation Level at Two CpG Sites in the Promoter Region of the Catechol-O-Methyltransferase (COMT) Gene

Jonathan Mill, 2006

Monozygotic (MZ) twin concordance for a range of psychiatric conditions is rarely 100%. It has been suggested that epigenetic factors, such as DNA methylation, may account for a proportion of the variation in behavioural traits observed between these genetically identical individuals.
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Revisiting the Association Between Reading Achievement and Antisocial Behavior: New Evidence of an Environmental Explanation From a Twin Study

Kali H. Trzesniewski, 2006

Previous studies have reported, but not explained, the reason for a robust association between reading achievement and antisocial behaviour. This association was investigated using the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study.
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2005

Psychometric Evaluation of 5- and 7-Year-Old Children’s Self-Reports of Conduct Problems

Louise Arseneault, 2005

Past research suggests that young children are incapable of reporting information about their own behaviour problems. To test this, we examined the validity and the usefulness of children’s self-reports in the E-Risk Study, a nationally representative birth cohort.
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Origins of Individual Differences in Theory of Mind: From Nature to Nurture?

Claire Hughes, 2005

In this study of the origins of individual differences in theory of mind (ToM), the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study sample completed a comprehensive battery of ToM tasks, to test genetic and environmental impacts on individual differences within this context.
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Nature vs nurture: Genetic vulnerabilities interact with physical maltreatment to promote conduct problems

Sara R. Jaffee, 2005

Maltreatment places children at risk for psychiatric morbidity, especially conduct problems. However, not all maltreated children develop conduct problems. We tested whether the effect of physical maltreatment on risk for conduct problems was strongest among those who were at high genetic risk for these problems.
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Maternal Depression and Children’s Antisocial Behavior

Julia Kim-Cohen, 2005

This study tests whether the associations between maternal depression and children’s antisocial behaviour come about because (1) depressed women are likely to have comorbid antisocial personality traits, (2) depressed women are likely to mate and bear children with antisocial men, or (3) children of depressed mothers inherit a genetic liability for psychopathology.
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Validity of DSM-IV Conduct Disorder in 4½–5-Year-Old Children: A Longitudinal Epidemiological Study

Julia Kim-Cohen, 2005

This longitudinal study of a nonreferred, population-based sample tested the concurrent, convergent, and predictive validity of DSM-IV conduct disorder in children 4½–5 years of age.
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2004

Maternal Expressed Emotion Predicts Children’s Antisocial Behavior Problems: Using Monozygotic-Twin Differences to Identify Environmental Effects on Behavioral Development

Avshalom Caspi, 2004

If maternal expressed emotion is an environmental risk factor for children’s antisocial behaviour problems, it should account for behavioural differences between siblings growing up in the same family even after genetic influences on children’s behaviour problems are considered. This hypothesis was tested in the Environmental Risk Longitudinal Twin Study.
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Physical Maltreatment Victim to Antisocial Child: Evidence of an Environmentally Mediated Process

Sara R. Jaffee, 2004

The well-documented finding that child physical maltreatment predicts later antisocial behaviour has at least 2 explanations: (a) Physical maltreatment causes antisocial behaviour, and (b) genetic factors transmitted from parents to children influence the likelihood that parents will be abusive and that children will engage in antisocial behaviour. We tested these hypotheses.
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The Limits of Child Effects: Evidence for Genetically Mediated Child Effects on Corporal Punishment but Not on Physical Maltreatment

Sara R. Jaffee, 2004

Research on child effects has demonstrated that children’s difficult and coercive behaviour provokes harsh discipline from adults. Using a genetically sensitive design, the authors tested the limits of child effects on adult behaviour that ranged from the normative (corporal punishment) to the nonnormative (physical maltreatment).
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Genetic and Environmental Processes in Young Children's Resilience and Vulnerability to Socioeconomic Deprivation

Julia Kim-Cohen, 2004

Some children exposed to socioeconomic (SES) deprivation are resilient and function better than expected, given the level of deprivation they have experienced. The present study tested genetic and environmental contributions to young children’s resilience and vulnerability to SES deprivation.
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Co-Occurrence of ADHD and Low IQ Has Genetic Origins

Jonna Kuntsi, 2004

Previous studies show that the symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and lower intelligence quotient (IQ) covary in children. We investigated the aetiology of this association in a large population-based sample of 5-year-old twins.
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Prenatal Smoking and Early ChildhoodConduct Problems

Barbara Maughan, 2004

Extensive evidence now supports a statistical association between prenatal smoking and increased risk for antisocial outcomes in offspring. Though this statistical link may signal a causal association, commentators have urged caution in interpreting findings because of the likelihood of confounding.
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Sex Differences in Developmental Reading Disability

Michael Rutter, 2004

This study aims to summarize the history of research on sex differences in reading disability and to provide new evidence from 4 independent epidemiological studies about the nature, extent, and significance of sex differences in reading disability.
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The Consequences of Selective Participation on Behavioral-Genetic Findings: Evidence from Simulated and Real Data

Alan Taylor, 2004

Nonresponse occurs when individuals either have no chance of being included in a study, refuse to take part, or fail to give complete information. The purpose of this article is to test the possible biasing effects of nonresponse on the results of behavioural-genetic studies.
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What Effect Does Classroom Separation Have on Twins’ Behaviour, Progress at School, and Reading Abilities?

Lucy A. Tully, 2004

Here we investigate the effects of classroom separation on twins’ behaviour, progress at school, and reading abilities, using a nationally representative sample of twins.
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Does Maternal Warmth Moderate the Effects of Birth Weight on Twins’ Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Symptoms and Low IQ?

Lucy A. Tully, 2004

The moderating effect of maternal warmth on the association between low birth weight and children’s attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms and low IQ was studied in 2,232 twins.
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2003

Strong genetic effects on cross-situational antisocial behaviour among 5-year-old children according to mothers, teachers, examiner-observers, and twins self-reports

Louise Arseneault, 2003

Early childhood antisocial behaviour is a strong prognostic indicator for poor adult mental health. Genetic etiology is unknown because most research with young children focuses on environmental risk factors, and the few existing studies of young twins used only mothers reports of behaviour, which may be biased.
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Life With (or Without) Father: The Benefits of Living With Two Biological Parents Depend on the Father's Antisocial Behavior

Sara R. Jaffee, 2003

The salutary effects of being raised by two married, biological parents depend on the quality-of-care parents can provide. This study looks at the effects of this using data from an epidemiological sample of twins and their parents.
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Domestic violence is associated with environmental suppression of IQ in young children

Karestan C. Koenen, 2003

Research suggests that exposure to extreme stress in childhood, such as domestic violence, affects children’s neurocognitive development, leading to lower intelligence. Thus, this twin study tested whether domestic violence had environmentally mediated effects on young children’s intelligence.
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Maternal adjustment, parenting and child behaviour in families of school-aged twins conceived after IVF and ovulation induction

Lucy A. Tully, 2003

This study compared measures of parental adjustment, parenting and child behaviour in families with 5-year-old twins who were conceived after in vitro fertilisation (IVF) or ovulation induction (OI) with families whose twins were naturally conceived.
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2002

‘I’m gonna beat you!’ SNAP!: an observational paradigm for assessing young children’s disruptive behaviour in competitive play

Claire Hughes, 2002

This study focuses on a novel observational paradigm (SNAP) involving a rigged competitive card game designed to expose children to the threat of losing. We report on a large study that compares observational ratings of disruptive behaviour on the SNAP game with mother and teacher reports of externalising behaviour.
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Influence of Adult Domestic Violence on Children’s Internalizing and Externalizing Problems: An Environmentally Informative Twin Study

Sara R. Jaffee, 2002

Externalizing and internalizing problems may aggregate in families because (1) siblings share genetic risks for problem behaviours or (2) siblings are exposed to similar environmental risks. A genetically sensitive design was used to determine whether domestic violence accounted significantly for the variation and covariation of externalizing and internalizing problems.
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Teen-aged mothers in contemporary Britain

Terrie E. Moffitt, 2002

This paper describes the circumstances of contemporary young mothers and their children from a nationally representative sample, and compares them to the circumstances of mothers who delayed childbearing beyond age 20.
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2001

Can Women Provide Reliable Information about Their Children's Fathers? Cross-informant Agreement about Men's Lifetime Antisocial Behaviour

Avshalom Caspi, 2001

It is difficult to study the contribution of fathers’ antisocial behaviour to children’s development because fathers with behavioural problems are often absent or reluctant to participate in research. This study examines whether mothers’ reports about their children’s fathers’ antisocial behaviour can be substituted for interviews with fathers.
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Publications

2024

The socioeconomic consequences of loneliness: Evidence from a nationally representative longitudinal study of young adults

Bridget T. Bryan, 2024

The relationship between type, timing and duration of exposure to adverse childhood experiences and adolescent self-harm and depression: findings from three UK prospective population-based cohorts

Bushra Farooq, 2024

Trajectories of childhood bullying behaviors and conduct problems: Associations with cognitive functioning in a nationally representative cohort study

Frédéric Thériault-Couture, 2024

Do polygenic indices capture “direct” effects on child externalizing behavior problems? Within-family analyses in two longitudinal birth cohorts

Peter T. Tanksley, 2024

Social isolation and poor mental health in young people: testing genetic and environmental influences in a longitudinal cohort study

Katherine N. Thompson, 2024

Why do prospective and retrospective measures of childhood maltreatment differ? Qualitative analyses in a cohort study

Oonagh Coleman, 2024

Can a warm and supportive adult protect against mental health problems amongst children with experience of adversity? A twin-difference study.

Sarah Stock, 2024

Testing whether multi-level factors protect poly-victimised children against psychopathology in early adulthood: a longitudinal cohort study

Flora Blangis, 2024

2023

The general factor of psychopathology (p): Choosing among competing models and interpreting p

Avshalom Caspi, 2023

Problematic technology use and sleep quality in young adulthood: novel insights from a nationally representative twin study

Juan J. Madrid-Valero, 2023

Social isolation, loneliness, and inflammation: A multi-cohort investigation in early and mid-adulthood

Timothy Matthews, 2023

Socioenvironmental adversity and adolescent psychotic experiences: exploring potential mechanisms in a UK longitudinal cohort

Joanne B. Newbury, 2023

Cross-national and cross-generational evidence that educational attainment may slow the pace of aging in European-descent individuals

Karen Sugden, 2023

Do children with ADHD symptoms become socially isolated? Longitudinal within-person associations in a nationally-representative cohort

Katherine N. Thompson, 2023

Genetic associations with parental investment from conception to wealth inheritance in six cohorts

Jasmin Wertz, 2023

2022

Mother’s and children’s ADHD genetic risk, household chaos and children’s ADHD symptoms: A gene– environment correlation study

Jessica C. Agnew-Blais, 2022

DunedinPACE, A DNA methylation biomarker of the Pace of Aging

Daniel W. Belsky, 2022

Longitudinal associations between adolescents’ individual risk for depression and inflammation in a UK cohort study

Rachel M. Latham, 2022

Violent experiences and neighbourhoods during adolescence: understanding and mitigating the association with mental health at the transition to adulthood in a longitudinal cohort study

Rachel M. Latham, 2022

The developmental course of loneliness in adolescence: Implications for mental health, educational attainment, and psychosocial functioning

Timothy Matthews, 2022

Using a Loneliness Measure to Screen for Risk of Mental Health Problems: A Replication in Two Nationally Representative Cohorts

Timothy Matthews, 2022

Automatic Detection of Expressed Emotion from Five-Minute Speech Samples: Challenges and Opportunities

Bahman Mirheidari and André Bittar, 2022

Trajectories of childhood social isolation in a nationally representative cohort: Associations with antecedents and early adulthood outcomes

Katherine N. Thompson, 2022

Uncovering the genetic architecture of broad antisocial behavior through a genome-wide association study meta-analysis

J.J. Tielbeek, 2022

Decline in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder traits over the life course in the general population: trajectories across five population birth cohorts spanning ages 3 to 45 years

Robyn E. Wootton, 2022

2021

Polygenic risk and the course of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder from childhood to young adulthood: Findings from a nationally-representative cohort

Jessica C. Agnew-Blais, 2021

Taxonomy of psychopathology: a work in progress and a call for interdisciplinary research

Louise Arseneault, 2021

Population vs Individual Prediction of Poor Health From Results of Adverse Childhood Experiences Screening

Jessie R. Baldwin, 2021

The Polygenic Index Repository: Resource Profile and User Guide

Joel Becker, 2021

Identifying adolescents at risk for major depressive disorder: Performance of a composite risk score in cohorts based in three 3 different continents

Thiago Botter-Maio Rocha, 2021

Investigating the genetic architecture of noncognitive skills using GWAS-by-subtraction

Perline A. Demange, 2021

Eleven genomic loci affect plasma levels of chronic inflammation marker soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor

Joseph Dowsett, 2021

Bullying behaviours and other conduct problems: longitudinal investigation of their independent associations with risk factors and later outcomes

Keertana Ganesan, 2021

Assessing the co-variability of DNA methylation across peripheral cells and tissues: Implications for the interpretation of findings in epigenetic epidemiology

Eilis Hannon, 2021

Genetic association study of childhood aggression across raters, instruments, and age

Hill F. Ip, 2021

Childhood exposure to ambient air pollution and predicting individual risk of depression onset in UK adolescents

Rachel M. Latham, 2021

Unravelling the contribution of complex trauma to psychopathology and cognitive deficits: a cohort study

Stephanie J. Lewis, 2021

This is what loneliness looks like: A mixed-methods study of loneliness in adolescence and young adulthood