TY - JOUR
T1 - Increased depressive and anxiety symptoms in non-heterosexual individuals
T2 - Moderation by childhood factors using a twin design
AU - Oginni, Olakunle Ayokunmi
AU - Alanko, Katarina
AU - Jern, Patrick
AU - Rijsdijk, Frühling Vesta
N1 - Funding Information:
The data collection was funded by a Center of Excellence Grant from the Stiftelsen fӧr Åbo Akademi Foundation (Grant No. 21/22/05). PJ is funded by grants no. 274521, 284385 and 319403 from the Academy of Finland. None of the funders had any role in the present study, including data collection, preparation or analysis. OAO is supported by the Commonwealth Scholarship (Award No: NGCA-2018-65), a global scholarship programme funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, United Kingdom.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021
PY - 2022/1/15
Y1 - 2022/1/15
N2 - Background: Evidence indicates that minority stress does not sufficiently explain mental health disparities in non-heterosexual compared to heterosexual individuals. We investigated alternative mechanisms whereby childhood factors (childhood gender nonconformity, early-life adversities and parent-child interactions) moderate the relationships between sexual orientation and depressive and anxiety symptoms. Methods: The sample comprised twin pairs from the Finnish Genetics of Sexuality and Aggression cohort (n = 3166 individuals, mean age = 37.5 ± 2.93 years). Twin analyses using structural equation modelling was performed in OpenMx. Specifically, we tested whether childhood factors differentially moderated the underlying genetic and environmental influences on the relationships between sexual orientation, and depressive and anxiety symptoms. Results: The associations between non-heterosexuality, and depressive and anxiety symptoms (r = 0.09, 0.10 respectively) were significantly influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. The genetic influences explaining the relationships of sexual orientation with depressive and anxiety symptoms were maximal at high levels of childhood gender nonconformity (βA = 0.09 and 0.11 respectively) whereas the individual-specific environmental influences on these relationships were maximal at lower levels of childhood gender nonconformity (βE = -0.10). Limitations: Childhood factors were assessed retrospectively in a cross-sectional design. Conclusions: Childhood gender nonconformity is associated with increased genetic and decreased individual-specific environmental influences on mental health among non-heterosexual individuals. Childhood gender nonconformity may, thus, enhance genetic risk and non-genetic protective processes for depressive and anxiety symptoms among non-heterosexual individuals.
AB - Background: Evidence indicates that minority stress does not sufficiently explain mental health disparities in non-heterosexual compared to heterosexual individuals. We investigated alternative mechanisms whereby childhood factors (childhood gender nonconformity, early-life adversities and parent-child interactions) moderate the relationships between sexual orientation and depressive and anxiety symptoms. Methods: The sample comprised twin pairs from the Finnish Genetics of Sexuality and Aggression cohort (n = 3166 individuals, mean age = 37.5 ± 2.93 years). Twin analyses using structural equation modelling was performed in OpenMx. Specifically, we tested whether childhood factors differentially moderated the underlying genetic and environmental influences on the relationships between sexual orientation, and depressive and anxiety symptoms. Results: The associations between non-heterosexuality, and depressive and anxiety symptoms (r = 0.09, 0.10 respectively) were significantly influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. The genetic influences explaining the relationships of sexual orientation with depressive and anxiety symptoms were maximal at high levels of childhood gender nonconformity (βA = 0.09 and 0.11 respectively) whereas the individual-specific environmental influences on these relationships were maximal at lower levels of childhood gender nonconformity (βE = -0.10). Limitations: Childhood factors were assessed retrospectively in a cross-sectional design. Conclusions: Childhood gender nonconformity is associated with increased genetic and decreased individual-specific environmental influences on mental health among non-heterosexual individuals. Childhood gender nonconformity may, thus, enhance genetic risk and non-genetic protective processes for depressive and anxiety symptoms among non-heterosexual individuals.
KW - Anxiety symptoms
KW - Behavior genetics
KW - Childhood stressors
KW - Depressive symptoms
KW - Sexual orientation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85119618897&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jad.2021.10.095
DO - 10.1016/j.jad.2021.10.095
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85119618897
SN - 0165-0327
VL - 297
SP - 508
EP - 516
JO - Journal of Affective Disorders
JF - Journal of Affective Disorders
ER -
