ARTICLES
Family Conflict Interacts With Genetic Liability in Predicting Childhood and Adolescent Depression

https://doi.org/10.1097/01.chi.0000219834.08602.44Get rights and content

ABSTRACT

Objective:

To test for gene-environment interaction with depressive symptoms and family conflict. Specifically, to first examine whether the influence of family conflict in predicting depressive symptoms is increased in individuals at genetic risk of depression. Second, to test whether the genetic component of variance in depressive symptoms increases as levels of family conflict increase.

Method:

A longitudinal twin design was used. Children ages 5 to 16 were reassessed approximately 3 years later to test whether the influence of family conflict in predicting depressive symptoms varied according to genetic liability. The conflict subscale of the Family Environment Scale was used to assess family conflict and the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire was used to assess depressive symptoms. The response rate to the questionnaire at time 1 was 73% and 65% at time 2. Controlling for initial symptoms levels (i.e., internalizing at time 1), primary analyses were conducted using ordinary least-squares multiple regression. Structural equation models, using raw score maximum likelihood estimation, were also fit to the data for the purpose of model fit comparison.

Results:

Results suggested significant gene-environment interaction specifically with depressive symptoms and family conflict. Genetic factors were of greater importance in the etiology of depressive symptoms where levels of family conflict were high. The effects of family conflict on depressive symptoms were greater in children and adolescents at genetic risk of depression.

Conclusions:

The present results suggest that children with a family history of depression may be at an increased risk of developing depressive symptoms in response to family conflict. Intervention programs that incorporate one or more family systems may be of benefit in alleviating the adverse effect of negative family factors on children.

Section snippets

Participants

A sample of families from a systematically ascertained, population-based register of twin births between 1980 and 1991, the Cardiff Study of All-Wales and North-west of England Twins (CaStANET), was invited to participate. These twins were identified through child health databases that include all births in a geographic area for the purpose of immunizations and health checks. At the first wave of data collection in 1997, data were collected by postal questionnaire for 2,082 pairs of twins ages

Descriptives

Table 2 illustrates the means, SEs, and ranges of internalizing symptoms and family conflict at time 1 and depressive symptoms at time 2 for the whole sample and broken down by gender. There were no mean differences in the level of family conflict according to the gender of the twin pairs (t = 0.870, SE = 0.123, p = .385). For internalizing symptoms, t = −0.780, SE = 0.092, p = .436, for depressive symptoms, t = −1.328, SE = 0.051, p = .184. None of the variables were significantly correlated

DISCUSSION

Collectively, the results presented in this article provide evidence that the influence of family conflict in predicting depression in young people differs according to genetic risk for depression. The implication is that children who have a family history of depression are at an increased risk of developing depressive symptoms in response to family conflict. The present results suggest that children at higher genetic risk of depressive symptoms are more sensitive to the depressogenic effects

Limitations

As with all studies, the present study has a number of limitations that should be considered. Assessment of conflict and depressive symptoms came from a single informant. This raises the possibility of increased associations because one person rated both risk factor at time 1 and symptoms at time 2. Nevertheless, because the data are separated in time by 3 years, it seems unlikely that the mother would be subject to the same potential biases at both time points. Nonetheless, it should be noted

Clinical Implications

The present results add to the existing research by showing not only that family conflict significantly predicts depressive symptoms in young people, but also that the effect of family conflict in predicting depressive symptoms interacts with genetic risk. Thus, the effect of family conflict on depression is influenced by a child's genetic vulnerabilities. The present results are clinically informative because they may help to identify children who will benefit from intervention and support. It

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    The twin register was set up with funding from the Medical Research Council, U.K.

    Disclosure: The authors have no financial relationships to disclose.

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    Copyright © 2006 The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.