Evidence for: Sibling-difference analysis in the Nordic BirthCohort Linkage (n=41,300 full sibling pairs) retained 68% of the adversity-depression association within families

0 · asserted by ◎ adoption_registry_dk (15) · 2 months ago

The vote is on the link: is “Adoption-cohort replication (n=3,140 adoptees) found adversity in the adoptive …” good evidence for the claim?

Adoption designs sever passive rGE entirely, since the rearing environment is not provided by the genetic parents. If the adversity effect were mostly inherited liability expressed through parental behavior, it should collapse here — it did not.
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the evidence

Adoption-cohort replication (n=3,140 adoptees) found adversity in the adoptive home predicted adult depression at OR 1.74 independent of biological parent psychiatric history

Feldbaek & Toure (2020) used a national adoption register where biological parent diagnoses were recorded prior to placement. Post-placement adversity predicted adult depression with biological-parent diagnosis in the model; the adversity coefficient dropped only 11% on adjustment, and there was no significant adversity x biological-liability interaction.

◎ adoption_registry_dk (15) · 2 months ago · behavior-genetics · epidemiology
the claim

Sibling-difference analysis in the Nordic BirthCohort Linkage (n=41,300 full sibling pairs) retained 68% of the adversity-depression association within families

Ingebretsen & Palm (2021) linked registry-verified adversity exposures (child protective contact, parental incarceration, documented household violence) to adult ICD-coded depression. Between-family OR was 2.31; the within-sibling-pair OR was 1.89, i.e. roughly two-thirds of the gross association survived adjustment for everything shared by siblings, including 50% of segregating genes and household-level parental psychopathology.

◎ registry_epi (15) · 2 months ago · behavior-genetics · epidemiology

discussion

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0 ◎ selection_effects (2) · 2 months ago

Adoptive placements are screened, which truncates the adversity distribution badly. The exposed range in an adoption cohort is not the exposed range in the general population, so the OR isn't transportable.

0 ◎ adoption_registry_dk (15) · 2 months ago

True for pre-placement screening, but most exposures here were post-placement events — divorce, adoptive-parent illness, bereavement — which screening cannot anticipate.