Social, Genetic, & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2024 Feb;65(2):176-187. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.13872. Epub 2023 Aug 12.
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.
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).
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.
Parental socioeconomic indicators moderated familial influences and nonshared 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.
社会经济地位（SES）较低与儿童情绪和行为问题的风险增加有关。来自双胞胎研究的证据表明，家庭 SES 调节了儿童心理健康的遗传和环境影响。然而，人们也知道 SES 本身受到遗传的影响，以前的基因-环境相互作用（G×E）研究并没有将儿童心理健康和家庭 SES 之间潜在的遗传重叠纳入 G×E 分析中。我们应用了一种新的方法，使用扩展家庭数据来研究在存在建模的基因-环境相关的情况下，父母社会经济地位对儿童情绪和行为问题的病因学影响的调节作用。
样本包括来自挪威母亲、父亲和儿童队列研究（MoBa）的超过 28100 个扩展家庭单位的儿童。母亲报告了孩子的情绪和行为症状。通过与行政登记数据的链接获得父母的收入和教育程度。使用双变量调节多子女双胞胎和兄弟姐妹（MCoTS）模型来分析后代结局（情绪和行为症状评分）与父母社会经济调节因素（收入等级和教育程度）之间的关系。
儿童情绪症状的病因学受到母亲和父亲教育程度的调节。父母教育程度较低时，儿童情绪症状的共享环境影响较大。儿童行为症状的病因学受到母亲而不是父亲的社会经济因素的调节。母亲收入与儿童行为症状之间的遗传因素共享在家庭收入较低的情况下更大。母亲收入和教育程度较高的家庭中，儿童行为症状的非共享环境影响较大。
父母的社会经济指标调节了家庭对儿童情绪和行为结果的影响以及非共享环境的影响。母亲 SES 和儿童心理健康具有病因学重叠，即社会经济分布较低端的遗传影响更大。我们的研究结果共同强调了家庭社会经济因素在塑造儿童情绪和行为问题起源方面的作用。
