The association between parental bonding and obsessive compulsive disorder in offspring at high familial risk.
BACKGROUND
The aim of the current study is to estimate the association between parenting factors derived from the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) and a lifetime DSM-IV diagnosis of OCD.


METHODS
Data were from approximately 1200 adults from 465 families assessed as part of a large family and genetic study of OCD. The association of three parenting factors, for fathers and mothers, with offspring OCD status were examined; analyses were stratified by parental OCD status and family loading for OCD (multiplex versus sporadic).


RESULTS
Three factors were derived by principal components factor analysis of the PBI (maternal and paternal care, overprotection and control). Maternal overprotection was associated with OCD in offspring with familial OCD (familial cases) but only if neither parent was affected with OCD, which suggests independent but additive environmental and genetic risk (OR = 5.9, 95% CI 1.2, 29.9, p = 0.031). Paternal care was a protective factor in those not at high genetic risk (sporadic cases) (OR = 0.2, 95% CI 0.0, 0.8, p = 0.027). Maternal overprotection was also associated with offspring OCD in sporadic families (OR = 2.9, 95% CI 1.3, 6.6, p = 0.012). The finding that parental overprotection and care were not associated with offspring OCD when at least one parent had OCD addressed directly the hypothesis of maternal or paternal OCD adversely impacting parenting.


CONCLUSIONS
This study provides evidence that aspects of parenting may contribute to the development of OCD among offspring. Prospective studies of children at risk for OCD are needed to explore the direction of causality.
Wilcox
Holly C
HC
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287-7228, USA. hwilcox1@jhmi.edu
Grados
Marco
M
Samuels
Jack
J
Riddle
Mark A
MA
Bienvenu
Oscar J
OJ
Pinto
Anthony
A
Cullen
Bernadette
B
Wang
Ying
Y
Shugart
Yin Y
YY
Liang
Kung-Yee
KY
Nestadt
Gerald
G
D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009769:Object Attachment; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012307:Risk Factors; D012931:Social Environment