Authors: Amala Someshwar; Bharath Holla; Preeti Pansari Agarwal; Anza Thomas; Anand Jose; Bobin Joseph; Birudu Raju; Hariprasad Karle; M Muthukumaran; Prabhath G Kodancha; Pramod Kumar; Preethi V Reddy; Ravi Kumar Nadella; Sanjay T Naik; Sayantanava Mitra; Sreenivasulu Mallappagiri; Vanteemar S Sreeraj; Srinivas Balachander; Suhas Ganesh; Pratima Murthy; Vivek Benegal; Janardhan Y. C. Reddy; Sanjeev Jain; ADBS Consortium; Jayant Mahadevan; Biju Viswanath · Research
How Do Childhood Experiences Affect the Age When Mental Health Conditions Develop in Families with Multiple Affected Members?
This study examined how adverse childhood experiences impact the age of onset of psychiatric disorders in families with multiple affected members.
Source: Someshwar, A., Holla, B., Agarwal, P. P., Thomas, A., Jose, A., Joseph, B., ... & Viswanath, B. (2019). Adverse childhood experiences in families with multiple members diagnosed to have psychiatric illnesses. bioRxiv, 745521. https://doi.org/10.1101/745521
What you need to know
- Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) were associated with earlier onset of psychiatric disorders, especially in men.
- ACEs had the strongest effect on earlier onset for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and substance use disorders.
- In families with multiple affected members, ACEs may trigger earlier onset in genetically vulnerable individuals.
Background
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) like abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction can have long-lasting negative effects on mental health. This study looked at how ACEs impact the age when psychiatric disorders first develop in families that have multiple members with mental health conditions.
How ACEs affected age of onset
The researchers found that experiencing more ACEs was linked to developing psychiatric disorders at a younger age across all the conditions they studied. This effect was strongest for men - higher ACEs scores increased the risk of earlier onset by 15-18% in men, but had no significant effect in women.
When looking at specific disorders:
- For OCD, higher ACEs increased risk of earlier onset by 25-33%
- For substance use disorders, ACEs increased risk of earlier onset by 9-13% (only in those with onset after age 18)
- For individuals with multiple co-occurring diagnoses, ACEs increased risk by 12-14%
Interestingly, ACEs did not significantly affect age of onset for bipolar disorder or schizophrenia in this sample. The researchers suggest this may be because these conditions have a stronger genetic component.
Why this matters
These findings suggest that in families with a genetic predisposition to psychiatric disorders, experiencing adversity in childhood may trigger earlier onset of mental health conditions, particularly for men. This highlights the importance of supporting children in these high-risk families and working to prevent or mitigate childhood adversity.
The differential effects on various disorders also provides insight into how genes and environment may interact differently for various psychiatric conditions. Understanding these patterns could help identify individuals most at risk for early-onset disorders.
Caveats to keep in mind
- The study relied on retrospective reporting of childhood experiences, which can be affected by memory biases.
- The findings may not generalize to individuals without a family history of psychiatric disorders.
- Cultural factors that weren’t captured by the ACEs questionnaire may have influenced the results.
Conclusions
- ACEs appear to bring forward the onset of psychiatric disorders in genetically vulnerable individuals, especially men.
- The effect was strongest for OCD and substance use disorders.
- Preventing childhood adversity may help delay or prevent onset in high-risk families.
- More research is needed to understand the mechanisms behind these effects and develop targeted interventions.