Nature, nurture and depression: a twin study.
We studied a series of twins systematically ascertained through 214 probands (84 monozygotic, 130 dizygotic) who had had one or more episodes of hospital-treated major depression. A variety of definitions of depression were applied to the co-twins all of which resulted in (a) markedly higher rates of disorder than are found in the general population, (b) significantly higher monozygotic than dizygotic concordance. The results of applying a simple additive model in which depression is considered as a threshold trait suggested that both genetic factors and shared family environment make substantial and significant contributions to the familiality of depression.
McGuffin
P
P
Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff.
Katz
R
R
Rutherford
J
J
D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D004200:Diseases in Twins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008957:Models, Genetic; D010553:Personality Development; D012307:Risk Factors; D012931:Social Environment; D014429:Twins, Dizygotic / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D014430:Twins, Monozygotic / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology