Genetic and Parenting Contributions to Heterotypic Symptom Co-occurrence in a Longitudinal Community Sample of Children: A Multilevel Modeling Study and Exploratory Analyses Using Machine Learning
Year: 2018
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Despite distinct behavioral presentations, internalizing (INT) symptoms, such as depression and anxiety, often co-occur with externalizing (EXT) symptoms, such as delinquency and aggression.Although children with concurrent INT and EXT symptoms (i.e., heterotypic symptom co-occurrence) are at especially high risk for poor functional and psychosocial outcomes across the lifespan, etiological mechanisms of heterotypic symptom co-occurrence are poorly understood.Our lab recently proposed that high rates of heterotypic symptom co-occurrence (comorbidity) can be explained in part by common, transdiagnostic vulnerabilities that underlie both INT and EXT symptoms.In particular, we suggest that deficient dopamine (DA) function in mesolimbic brain regions may produce mood-related vulnerabilities, including chronic irritability and anhedonia, which predispose individuals to both INT and EXT disorders.We also emphasize ways in which environmental risk factors, such as ineffective parenting and other untoward experiences during early development, shape the extent to which such neural vulnerabilities portend psychiatric morbidity.In the present study, I explored how allelic variants in genes implicated in INT disorders, EXT disorders, and/or both interact with exposure to different parenting behaviors to predict emergence of and changes in INT and EXT symptoms in a community sample of children (N=409).Children's psychopathology symptoms were assessed at three time points spaced approximately two years apart beginning at ages 3-4 iii years, and parenting behaviors of caregivers were assessed in laboratory and home environments during the first assessment period.Multilevel models reveal interactions between negative parenting behaviors and genetic polymorphisms in DA receptors (DRD2 and DRD4) as etiological mechanisms underlying both INT and EXT symptoms.Next, I used machine learning to evaluate similar questions.These analyses did not yield predictive effects.Thus, this study alludes to common, transdiagnostic underpinnings for heterotypic symptom co-occurrence, but additional research is required to more fully elucidate these potential relations.Limitations of this study, future research directions, and implications for conceptualizing and treating psychopathology from transdiagnostic perspectives are also discussed.grateful for the guidance and support Dr. Beauchaine has offered me on this project and all of my research endeavors over the past six years in our work together.I also want to extend my thanks to Dr. Elizabeth Hayden for her collaborations with the Beauchaine Lab and for her efforts in generating the rich dataset that became the basis for this project.In addition, I would like to thank my committee members, Dr. Michael Vasey and Dr. Woo-Young
Author: Zisner, Aimee R
Institution: The Ohio State University
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7056788406