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The impact of parental mental illness across the full diagnostic spectrum on externalising and internalising vulnerabilities in young offspring
Dean, K. Green, Melissa Laurens, Kristin Kariuki, M. Tzoumakis, S. Sprague, Titia Lenroot, Rhoshel Carr, Vaughan J.
Dean, K.
Green, Melissa
Laurens, Kristin
Kariuki, M.
Tzoumakis, S.
Sprague, Titia
Lenroot, Rhoshel
Carr, Vaughan J.
Abstract
Background
The intergenerational risk for mental illness is well established within diagnostic categories, but the risk is unlikely to respect diagnostic boundaries and may be reflected more broadly in early life vulnerabilities. We aimed to establish patterns of association between externalising and internalising vulnerabilities in early childhood and parental mental disorder across the full spectrum of diagnoses.
Methods
A cohort of Australian children (n = 69 116) entering the first year of school in 2009 were assessed using the Australian Early Development Census, providing measures of externalising and internalising vulnerability. Parental psychiatric diagnostic status was determined utilising record-linkage to administrative health datasets.
Results
Parental mental illness, across diagnostic categories, was associated with all child externalising and internalising domains of vulnerability. There was little evidence to support interaction by parental or offspring sex.
Conclusions
These findings have important implications for informing early identification and intervention strategies in high-risk offspring and for research into the causes of mental illness. There may be benefits to focusing less on diagnostic categories in both cases.
Keywords
Internalising, externalising, parental mental illness, intergenerational, childhood
Date
2018
Type
Journal article
Journal
Psychological Medicine
Book
Volume
48
Issue
13
Page Range
2257-2263
Article Number
ACU Department
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
License
File Access
Controlled