Savage Jeanne, Verhulst Brad, Copeland William, Althoff Robert R, Lichtenstein Paul, Roberson-Nay Roxann
Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Richmond, VA.
Duke University Medical Center, Center for Developmental Epidemiology, Durham, NC.
J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2015 May;54(5):377-84. doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2015.02.010. Epub 2015 Feb 28.
Little is known about the longitudinal genetic and environmental association between juvenile irritability and symptoms of anxiety and depression. This study's goal was to assess the relationship between these constructs across a critical developmental period spanning childhood to young adulthood.
Parents (n = 1,348 twin pairs) from the Swedish Twin Study of Child and Adolescent Development completed the Child/Adult Behavior Checklist (CBCL/ABCL) about their twin children. Data were collected during a prospective, 4-wave study starting in childhood (ages 8-9 years) and ending in young adulthood (ages 19-20 years). An irritability score and an anxious/depressed score were computed from CBCL/ABCL item endorsements. Genetically informative cross-lagged models were used to estimate the genetic and environmental relationship between these 2 constructs across time.
Our models suggested that irritability more strongly predicted anxious/depressed symptoms than vice versa, consistent with a causal role of irritability on anxiety/depression at older ages. This relationship was significant only in late childhood/early adolescence. Additive genetic and unique environmental factors were significant contributors to both irritability and anxious/depressed symptoms and were both specific to and shared between these 2 constructs. The same common environmental factors influenced both constructs, although these factors accounted for a smaller amount of variance than genetic or unique environmental factors.
This study adds to our understanding of the developmental relationship between irritability and anxious/depressed symptoms and the contribution of genes and environmental factors to their association across development. Findings suggest the need to monitor for emergence of internalizing symptoms in irritable children and their potential need for therapeutic intervention.
关于青少年易怒情绪与焦虑和抑郁症状之间的纵向遗传和环境关联，我们了解得很少。本研究的目的是评估在从童年到青年期这一关键发育阶段，这些构念之间的关系。
来自瑞典儿童和青少年发展双胞胎研究的父母（1348对双胞胎）完成了关于其双胞胎子女的儿童/成人行为检查表（CBCL/ABCL）。数据是在一项前瞻性的四波研究中收集的，该研究从童年（8 - 9岁）开始，到青年期（19 - 20岁）结束。根据CBCL/ABCL项目认可情况计算出易怒得分和焦虑/抑郁得分。使用具有遗传信息的交叉滞后模型来估计这两个构念随时间的遗传和环境关系。
我们的模型表明，易怒情绪比焦虑/抑郁症状更能强烈预测焦虑/抑郁症状，这与易怒情绪在较年长时对焦虑/抑郁的因果作用一致。这种关系仅在童年晚期/青春期早期显著。加性遗传因素和独特环境因素是易怒情绪和焦虑/抑郁症状的重要促成因素，并且在这两个构念中既有特异性又有共享性。相同的共同环境因素影响这两个构念，尽管这些因素所解释的方差量比遗传因素或独特环境因素要小。
本研究增进了我们对易怒情绪与焦虑/抑郁症状之间发展关系以及基因和环境因素在其整个发展过程中关联作用的理解。研究结果表明，有必要监测易怒儿童内化症状的出现以及他们可能需要的治疗干预。
