Socioeconomic status and risk for child psychopathology: exploring gene-environment interaction in the presence of gene-environment correlation using extended families in the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Birth Cohort Study

TY - JOUR

T1 - Socioeconomic status and risk for child psychopathology

T2 - exploring gene-environment interaction in the presence of gene-environment correlation using extended families in the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Birth Cohort Study

AU - Badini, Isabella

AU - Ahmadzadeh, Yasmin

AU - Wechsler, Daniel

AU - Lyngstad, Torkild H.

AU - Rayner, Christopher

AU - Eilertsen, Espen Moen

AU - Zavos, Helena

AU - Ystrom, Eivind

AU - McAdams, Tom A.

N1 - Funding Information: During the writing of this manuscript, I.B. was supported by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and King's College London member of the ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership in Interdisciplinary Social Science (LISS DTP) (grant ST11872). D.L.W. was supported by the UK Medical Research Council (grant MR/N013700/1) and King's College London member of the MRC Doctoral Training Partnership in Biomedical Sciences. T.A.M. and Y.I.A. were funded by a Sir Henry Dale Fellowship awarded to T.A.M., jointly funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society (grant 107706/Z/15/Z). T.A.M., Y.I.A. and C.R. were funded by a Senior Research Fellowship awarded to T.A.M. funded by the Wellcome Trust (grant number 220382/Z/20/Z). The Research Council of Norway supported E.Y. and T.A.M. (grant number 288083) and E.M.E. (grant 262177). The Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study data collection was supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services and the Ministry of Education and Research, NIH/NIEHS (contract N01‐ES‐75558), NIH/NINDS (grants 1 UO1 NS 047537‐01, 2 UO1 NS 047537‐06A1). The funders of the study had no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation or writing of the report. We are grateful to all the participating families in Norway who take part in this on‐going cohort study. The authors have declared that they have no competing or potential conflict of interest. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

PY - 2024/2

Y1 - 2024/2

N2 - Background: Low socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with increased risk for emotional and behavioural problems among children. Evidence from twin studies has shown that family SES moderates genetic and environmental influences on child mental health. However, it is also known that SES is itself under genetic influence and previous gene-environment interaction (G×E) studies have not incorporated the potential genetic overlap between child mental health and family SES into G×E analyses. We applied a novel approach using extended family data to investigate the moderation of aetiological influences on child emotional and behavioural problems by parental socioeconomic status in the presence of modelled gene-environment correlation. Methods: The sample comprised >28,100 children in extended-family units drawn from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). Mothers reported children’s emotional and behavioural symptoms. Parents’ income and educational attainment were obtained through linkage to administrative register data. Bivariate moderation Multiple-Children-of-Twins-and-Siblings (MCoTS) models were used to analyse relationships between offspring outcomes (emotional and behavioural symptom scores) and parental socioeconomic moderators (income rank and educational attainment). Results: The aetiology of child emotional symptoms was moderated by maternal and paternal educational attainment. Shared environmental influences on child emotional symptoms were greater at lower levels of parents’ education. The aetiology of child behavioural symptoms was moderated by maternal, but not paternal, socioeconomic factors. Genetic factors shared between maternal income and child behavioural symptoms were greater in families with lower levels maternal income. Nonshared environmental influences on child behavioural symptoms were greater in families with higher maternal income and education. Conclusions: Parental socioeconomic indicators moderated familial influences and non-shared environmental influences on child emotional and behavioural outcomes. Maternal SES and child mental health share aetiological overlap such that shared genetic influence was greater at the lower end of the socioeconomic distribution. Our findings collectively highlight the role that family socioeconomic factors play in shaping the origins of child emotional and behavioural problems.

AB - Background: Low socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with increased risk for emotional and behavioural problems among children. Evidence from twin studies has shown that family SES moderates genetic and environmental influences on child mental health. However, it is also known that SES is itself under genetic influence and previous gene-environment interaction (G×E) studies have not incorporated the potential genetic overlap between child mental health and family SES into G×E analyses. We applied a novel approach using extended family data to investigate the moderation of aetiological influences on child emotional and behavioural problems by parental socioeconomic status in the presence of modelled gene-environment correlation. Methods: The sample comprised >28,100 children in extended-family units drawn from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). Mothers reported children’s emotional and behavioural symptoms. Parents’ income and educational attainment were obtained through linkage to administrative register data. Bivariate moderation Multiple-Children-of-Twins-and-Siblings (MCoTS) models were used to analyse relationships between offspring outcomes (emotional and behavioural symptom scores) and parental socioeconomic moderators (income rank and educational attainment). Results: The aetiology of child emotional symptoms was moderated by maternal and paternal educational attainment. Shared environmental influences on child emotional symptoms were greater at lower levels of parents’ education. The aetiology of child behavioural symptoms was moderated by maternal, but not paternal, socioeconomic factors. Genetic factors shared between maternal income and child behavioural symptoms were greater in families with lower levels maternal income. Nonshared environmental influences on child behavioural symptoms were greater in families with higher maternal income and education. Conclusions: Parental socioeconomic indicators moderated familial influences and non-shared environmental influences on child emotional and behavioural outcomes. Maternal SES and child mental health share aetiological overlap such that shared genetic influence was greater at the lower end of the socioeconomic distribution. Our findings collectively highlight the role that family socioeconomic factors play in shaping the origins of child emotional and behavioural problems.

KW - Emotional problems

KW - Behavioural problems

KW - socioeconomic status

KW - MoBa

KW - Gene-environment interaction

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85167738354&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/jcpp.13872

DO - 10.1111/jcpp.13872

M3 - Article

SN - 0021-9630

VL - 65

SP - 176

EP - 187

JO - Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry

JF - Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry

IS - 2

ER -