Table 3 Detailed characteristics of studies investigating offspring internalising behaviours (N = 30).
Offspring internalising behaviours | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Study | Design | Sample | Parental attribute (predictor) | Child attribute (outcome) | Control variables | Genetic overlap | Environmental transmission | G–E interplay |
Brooker et al.27 | Adoption | EGDS 361 families Offspring age: 18–27 months | Adoptive & birth parent anxiety : self-report, BAI | Internalising problems: maternal and paternal report, composite score, CBCL | No, birth parent anxiety did not predict offspring internalising problems | Yes, adoptive parent anxiety predicted offspring internalising problems (β = 0.25) | G × E: high birth parent anxiety × greater attention control × low adoptive parent anxiety: fewer internalising problems | |
Brooker et al.28 | Adoption | EGDS 349 families Age: 9–27 months | Adoptive parent anxiety: self-report, BAI Birth parent negative affect: self-report, ATQ | Negative affect: observation and adoptive-parent report, composite score, ICQ and TBAQ | Prenatal risk and obstetric complications, adoption openness | No, birth parent negative affect did not predict offspring negative effect (effect size not clear) | Yes, adoptive parent anxiety predicted offspring negative effect (effect size not clear) | No evidence of evocative rGE, but child-to-parent effects found |
Marceau et al.41 | Adoption | EGDS 361 families Age: 9 months 6 years | Over-reactive parenting: self-report, PS Birth mother risk: self-report, composite score, substance use, depression (BDI) & anxiety (BAI) | Internalising behaviours: parent report, CBCL | Adoption openness | No, birth mother risk did not predict offspring internalising behaviours (effect size not clear) | Yes, paternal (but not maternal) over-reactive parenting predicted offspring internalising behaviours (effect size not clear) | |
McAdams et al.19 | Adoption, Children-of- twins | Adoption: EGDS 361 families Age: 4.5–7 years CoT: TOSS 287 monozygotic (MZ) & 489 dizygotic (DZ) twin families Age: 11–22 years | Adoptive & parent depression: self-report, BDI Depressive symptoms (CoT): self-report, CES-D | Internalising problems (adoption sample): parent report, CBCL Internalising problems (CoT sample): mother, father and self-report, CBCL | Adoption sample: obstetric complications, adoption openness CoT sample: twin sex, age | Adoption: birth mother depressive symptoms predicted internalising problems at age 7 (β = 0.15), but not age 4.5 or age 6 CoT: no shared genetic effects between parental depression and offspring internalising problems | Adoption: no, adoptive parent depression did not predict subsequent offspring internalising problems CoT: after accounting for genetic relatedness, parental depression was associated with offspring internalising problems (effect size not clear) | No evidence of evocative rGE, but child-to-parent effects found |
Eley et al.29 | Children-of-twins | TOSS 387 MZ, 489 DZ families Age: 11–22 years | Anxious personality: self-report, KSP | Anxiety: mother, father and self-report, CBCL | Twin sex, age | No shared genetic effects between parental anxious personality and offspring anxiety | Yes, after accounting for genetic relatedness, parental anxiety was associated with offspring anxiety symptoms (effect size not clear) | |
Roos et al.57 | Adoption | EGDS 293 families Age: 6–7 years | Adoptive & birth mother internalising symptoms: self-report, composite score, BAI and BDI Adoptive mother uninvolved parenting: self-report, APQ Adoptive & birth mother processing speed: Stroop colour-word naming task | Internalising-only problems: parent report, CBCL Co-occurring internalising and externalising problems: parent report, CBCL | Child sex, child age, adoption openness, obstetric complications | Birth mother internalising symptoms and processing speed did not predict internalising-only symptoms, but processing speed was associated with co-occurring symptoms (OR = 1.88) | Adoptive parent internalising symptoms predicted internalising-only symptoms (OR = 1.17), but not co-occurring symptoms, uninvolved parenting predicted co-occurring symptoms (OR = 7.91), but not internalising-only symptoms and adoptive parent processing speed and offspring outcomes were unrelated | G × E: adoptive mother high internalising symptoms × inherited risk of slow processing speed: co-occurring symptoms |
Grabow et al.20 | Adoption | EPoCH 541 adoptive mother–child dyads, 126 biological mother–child dyads Age: 7 years | Maternal trauma frequency: repeated self-report, mean score, NLES Adoptive & birth mother depressive symptoms: self-report, BDI | Internalising behaviours: parent report, CBCL | EPoCH: Timing of maternal trauma, socioeconomic status (SES), sex EGDS: Perinatal risk, adoption openness, SES, sex | Yes, birth mother depression predicted adopted-away offspring internalising behaviours (β = 0.16) | Adopted mother depression predicted offspring internalising behaviours (β = 0.15), and mediated the relationship between maternal trauma and offspring internalising behaviours | |
Gjerde et al.24 | Sibling comparison | MoBa 17,830 siblings, 11,599 families Age: 6 months to 5 years | Maternal depression: self-report, SCL | Internalising problems: maternal report, CBCL | Maternal parity, maternal education, child age and child sex | Not studied | Children exposed to concurrent maternal depression had more internalising symptoms than their unexposed siblings, but perinatal maternal symptoms had no effect | |
Bekkhus et al.34 | Sibling comparison | MoBa 21,980 families with at least two siblings Age: 6 months to 3 years | Maternal anxiety during pregnancy: self-report, SCL (short version) | Infant difficulties: maternal report, ICQ Emotional difficulties: maternal report, CBCL | Maternal substance use during pregnancy, post-birth anxiety, partner disharmony, somatic disease, marital status, education, age, parity, child gestational age, birth complications, sex, birthweight | Not studied | No difference in infant difficulties or emotional difficulties between exposed and unexposed siblings | |
Bridgett et al.36 | Adoption | EGDS 361 families Age: 4.5–6 years | Harsh negative parenting: observation Biological parent self-regulation: Go/no Go task computerised task | Self-regulation: parent report (Children’s Behaviour Questionnaire) and Go/no Go computerised task | Obstetric and neonatal complications, adoption openness, child anger (parent report), gender | Yes, birth mother self-regulation predicted adopted-away offspring’s self-regulation (β = 0.23) | Yes, adoptive parent harsh parenting predicted poor offspring self-regulation (β = −0.22 to −0.25) | No evocative rGE, but child-to-parent effects of child anger found |
Hannigan et al.21 | Multiple children-of-twins and siblings | MoBa 22,195 mothers, 25,299 children Age: 18–60 months | Maternal depressive symptoms: self-report, SCL | Internalising problems: maternal report, CBCL | Prenatal depression: adjusted for concurrent depression | Yes, there were shared genetic effects between maternal depression and offspring internalising problems effect size not clear) | Yes, after accounting for genetic relatedness and prenatal depression, concurrent maternal depression was associated with offspring internalising problems (effect size not clear) | |
Liskola et al.26 | Adoption | FAS 548 international adopted children Age: 9–12 years | Depressive symptoms: self-report, GHQ | Depressive symptoms: self-report, CDI | Child age, gender, age at adoption, type of placement before adoption, the continent of birth, adoptive family SES | Not studied | Adoptive paternal (but not maternal) depressive symptoms were associated with offspring depressive symptoms | |
Kendler et al.23 | Multiple parenting relationships design | Snr 2,041,816 intact, 14,104 adoptive, 115,501 not-lived-with father, 57,826 stepfather, 29,205 triparental families Age: 26–56 years | Major depression: diagnosis, hospital discharge and outpatient care registers | Major depression: diagnosis, hospital discharge and outpatient care registers | None | Yes, MD status of not-lived-with biological parents was associated with offspring MD (r = 0.08) | Yes, MD status of adoptive or step-parents was associated with offspring MD (r = 0.08) | No G × E interaction found |
Ahmadzadeh et al.30 | Adoption | EGDS 305 families Age: 6–8 years | Adoptive parent anxiety: self-report, ST-AIA Birth parents’ internalising problems: mother & father self-report, composite score, CIDI and FH-RDC | Anxiety: maternal and paternal report, CBCL | The weighted risk score of obstetric complications, adoption openness, child sex | No, birth parents’ internalising problems did not predict adopted-away offspring anxiety | Adoptive paternal anxiety (but not maternal) predicted offspring anxiety (β = 0.10) | No evocative rGE, but child-to-mother effects found |
Gjerde et al.22 | Multiple children-of-twins and siblings | MoBa 22,316 mothers and 35,589 offspring Age: 1.5–5 years | Concurrent maternal depression symptoms: self-report, SCL | Emotional problems: maternal report, CBCL | Child sex, maternal age | Yes, there were shared genetic effects between maternal depression and offspring emotional problems (R2 = 21.1–28.5%) | Yes, after accounting for genetic relatedness, maternal depression was associated with offspring internalising problems (R2 = 0.3–2.2%) | |
Hails et al.25 | Adoption | EGDS 561 families Age: 9 months to 6 years | Adoptive parent depression: self-report, BDI-IIBirth mother internalising symptoms: self-report, CIDI | Internalising symptoms: parent and teacher report, CBCL and (TRF | Adoption openness, prenatal risk and obstetric complications, infant negative emotionality | No, birth mother internalising symptoms did not predict offspring internalising symptoms | Adoptive paternal (but not maternal) depression predicted parent-reported (but not teacher-reported) offspring internalising symptoms (β = 0.21) | |
Field et al.32 | Adoption | EGDS 561 families Age: 18 months to 4.5 years | Adoptive and birth parent anxiety: self-report, composite score of two measurements, BAI | Anxiety symptoms: parent report, an average of the maternal and paternal report, CBCL | No, birth parent anxiety did not predict offspring anxiety symptoms | Adoptive maternal and paternal anxiety equally predicted both offspring anxiety symptoms and change in anxiety symptoms (effect size not clear) | No evidence of evocative rGE found | |
Gjerde et al.31 | Sibling comparison | MoBa 11,553 mothers and 17,724 children Age: 1.5–5 years | Maternal anxiety: self-report, SCL | Child internalising problems: maternal report, CBCL | Child age, child sex, maternal depressive symptoms, parity, education | Not studied | Children exposed to concurrent maternal anxiety had more internalising symptoms than their unexposed siblings, but perinatal maternal symptoms had no effect | |
O’Reilly et al.123 | Children of siblings | Snr 2,762,883 unique offspring Age: 12 and over | Suicidal behaviour: suicide attempt or death by suicide, National Patient Register and Cause of Death register, prior to offspring age 18 | Suicidal behaviour: suicide attempt or death by suicide, National Patient Register and Cause of Death register | Offspring: parity. Parental: age at birth, educational attainment, Swedish by birth, mental illness, criminal convictions | Yes, there were shared genetic effects between parental and offspring suicidal behaviour (effect size not clear) | Yes, after accounting for genetic relatedness, parental suicidal behaviour was associated with offspring suicidal behaviour effect size not clear) | |
Horwitz et al.37 | Extended children-of-twins | TOSS, TCHAD 858 twin families, 690 twin families Age: 11–22 years, 16–17 years | Parental criticism: self-report, EES | Somatic symptoms: parent and self-report, composite score, CBCL | Age, sex, age difference for the cousin offspring in TOSS | No shared genetic effects between parental criticism and offspring somatic symptoms | Yes, after accounting for genetic relatedness, parental criticism was associated with offspring somatic symptoms (effect size not clear) | No evidence of passive or evocative rGE found |
Guimond et al.65 | Sibling comparison | QNTS 164 twin pairs Age: 13–14 years | Perceived maternal support and negativity: child report, NRI | Depressive symptoms: self-report, CDI | Genetically-controlled analyses using MZ twin-difference score | Not studied | No, perceived maternal support and negativity were not associated with offspring depressive symptoms | No evidence of evocative rGE, but child-to-parent effects found |
McAdams et al.38 | Children-of-twins | TOSS 387 MZ, 489 DZ families Age: 11–22 years | Expressed affection and closeness with child: self-report | Self-worth: self-report, HPCS | Twin sex and age | No shared genetic effects between expressed affection or closeness with child and offspring self-worth | Yes, after accounting for genetic relatedness, expressed affection and closeness with the child were associated with offspring self-worth (effect size not clear) | |
Hannigan et al.39 | Children-of-twins | TOSS 909 twin pairs Age: 11–22 years | Relationship quality with offspring: maternal and paternal report, P-CAS, EAS and P-CRQ | Internalising problems: self-report, CBCL | No shared genetic effects between parental relationship quality with offspring, and offspring internalising problems | Yes, after accounting for genetic relatedness, parental relationship quality with offspring was associated with offspring internalising problems (effect size not clear) | ||
Ahmadzadeh et al.40 | Extended children-of-twins | TOSS, TCHAD 876 twin families, 1030 twin families Age: 11–22 years | Parental criticism: self-report, EES | Internalising symptoms: parent and self-report, composite score, CBCL and YSR | Child age, sex | No shared genetic effects between parental criticism and offspring internalising symptoms | Yes, after accounting for genetic relatedness, parental criticism was associated with offspring internalising symptoms (effect size not clear) | |
Kendler et al.42 | Sibling comparison | Snr 666 full sibships and 2596 half-sibships of high-risk (MDD diagnosis) biological parents Age: 15 and over | Adoptive parenting: protective effect of high-quality rearing environment | Major depression: diagnosis, hospital discharge, outpatient care registers, primary care registry | Parental age at birth, high-risk status of the other parent of a half-sibling, child sex | Not studied | Children exposed to adoptive parenting had a lower risk of MDD than their unexposed siblings, this protective effect disappeared when the adoptive family was disrupted or if there was a high-risk adoptive parent | |
Jami et al.43 | M-GCTA, children-of-twins and siblings | MoBa M-GCTA: 3801 parent–offspring trios, extended CoT: 10,688 children Age: 8 years | Genetic nurture: M-GCTA, maternal and paternal genotypes Shared maternal or paternal environment: children-of-twins and siblings | Anxiety symptoms: maternal report, SCARED Depressive symptoms: maternal report, SMFQ | Sex, genotyping batch, first ten principal components | Not studied | After accounting for shared genetic effects, maternal or paternal genes did not explain significant variance in offspring depression or anxiety symptoms, and there were no shared maternal or paternal environment effects | No evidence of rGE found |
Cheesman et al.44 | Relatedness disequilibrium regression (RDR), children-of-twins and siblings | MoBa RDR: 11,598 parent–offspring trios, extended CoT: 26,086 pairs of relatives Age: 8 years | Genetic nurture: RDR, mid-parent genotype Maternal emotional symptoms: self-report, common factor score of 5 measurements, SCL-8 Shared parental environment: children-of-twins and siblings | Anxiety symptoms: maternal report, SCARED Depressive symptoms: maternal report, SMFQ | Child sex. RDR: ten principal components and genotyping batch | Not studied | After accounting for shared genetic effects, parental genes explained significant variance in offspring depression (but not anxiety) symptoms, this effect was partly mediated by maternal emotional symptoms Shared parental environmental effect was observed for offspring depression (but not anxiety) symptoms | Negative rGE between genetic nurture and offspring depressive symptoms |
Lund et al.47 | Sibling comparison | MoBa 14,639 mothers, 25,744 children Age: 1.5–5 years | Maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy: self-report, AUDIT-C | Emotional problems: maternal report, CBCL Emotional reactivity Anxious/depressed Somatic complaints | Parity, unplanned pregnancy, daily smoking, pre-pregnancy abstinence from alcohol | Not studied | Exposed children were more emotionally reactive and had more somatic complaints, but did not have more anxious depressive symptoms, than their unexposed siblings | |
Torvik et al.45 | Children-of-twins and siblings | MoBa 34,958 children Age: 8 years | Educational attainment (EA): self-report, highest level completed | Depression symptoms: maternal report, SMFQ | Yes, there were shared genetic effects between parental EA and offspring depression symptoms (effect size not clear) | No, after accounting for genetic relatedness, parental EA was not associated with offspring depression | ||
