Open AccessElucidating the Links Between Mother and Father Alcohol Use Disorder and Adolescent Externalizing Psychopathology: A Test of Transmission Specificity Within Competing Factor Structures and Genetic and Environmental Liabilities
Author(s) -
Veronica Oro,
H. Hill Goldsmith,
Kathryn LemeryChalfant
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
behavior genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.865
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1573-3297
pISSN - 0001-8244
DOI - 10.1007/s10519-021-10072-w
Subject(s) - psychopathology , psychology , conduct disorder , offspring , risk factor , alcohol use disorder , developmental psychology , antisocial personality disorder , child psychopathology , health psychology , clinical psychology , protective factor , psychiatry , poison control , injury prevention , alcohol , pregnancy , public health , medicine , genetics , biochemistry , chemistry , environmental health , nursing , biology
Parental alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a substantiated risk factor for adolescent externalizing psychopathology; however, the level of specificity at which risk from parental AUD is transmitted to adolescent offspring should be interrogated further. The current study modeled competing factor structures of psychopathology in a sample of 502 adolescent twin pairs (M age = 13.24 years) and tested associations with mother and father AUD. The bifactor model exhibited the best fit to the data when contrasted with correlated factors and general factor models. Paternal AUD predicted the externalizing and internalizing correlated factors, the adolescent P-factor but not the residual externalizing and internalizing factors, and the general factor. No significant associations with maternal AUD were noted. Lastly, the latent factors of adolescent psychopathology were all moderately heritable (h 2 = 0.44-0.59) and influenced by the nonshared environment. Shared genetic factors primarily explained externalizing and internalizing covariance. Findings suggest that efforts to mitigate risk in offspring of fathers exhibiting AUD require broader approaches that address the full range of adolescent symptomology.