Journal article icon

Journal article

Parental criticism and adolescent internalising symptoms: using a Children-of-Twins design with power calculations to account for genetic influence

Abstract:
Background Parental criticism is correlated with internalising symptoms in adolescent offspring. This correlation could in part reflect their genetic relatedness, if the same genes influence behaviours in both parents and offspring. We use a Children-of-Twins design to assess whether parent-reported criticism and offspring internalising symptoms remain associated after controlling for shared genes. To aid interpretation of our results and those of previous Children-of-Twins studies, we examine statistical power for the detection of genetic effects and explore the direction of possible causal effects between generations. Methods Data were drawn from two Swedish twin samples, comprising 876 adult twin pairs with adolescent offspring and 1,030 adolescent twin pairs with parents. Parent reports of criticism towards their offspring were collected concurrently with parent and offspring reports of adolescent internalising symptoms. Children-of-Twins structural equation models were used to control for genetic influence on the intergenerational association between parental criticism and adolescent internalising. Results Parental criticism was associated with adolescent internalising symptoms after controlling for genetic influence. No significant role was found for shared genes influencing phenotypes in both generations, although power analyses suggested that some genetic effects may have gone undetected. Models could not distinguish directionality for nongenetic, causal effects between generations. Conclusions Parental criticism may be involved in psychosocial family processes in the context of adolescent internalising. Future studies should seek to identify these processes and provide clarity on the direction of potential causal effects.
Publication status:
Published
Peer review status:
Peer reviewed

Actions


Access Document


Publisher copy:
10.1111/jcpp.13498

Authors


More by this author
Role:
Author
ORCID:
0000-0003-1333-1661
More by this author
Role:
Author
ORCID:
0000-0001-6458-0700
More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
MSD
Department:
Psychiatry
Role:
Author
ORCID:
0000-0003-1889-0956


Publisher:
Wiley
Journal:
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry More from this journal
Volume:
63
Issue:
5
Pages:
599-607
Place of publication:
England
Publication date:
2021-08-10
Acceptance date:
2021-06-18
DOI:
EISSN:
1469-7610
ISSN:
0021-9630
Pmid:
34374994


Language:
English
Keywords:
Pubs id:
1190703
Local pid:
pubs:1190703
Deposit date:
2021-08-26

Terms of use



Views and Downloads






If you are the owner of this record, you can report an update to it here: Report update to this record

TO TOP