title: The impact of childhood parental loss on risk for mood, anxiety and substance use disorders in a population-based sample of male twins.
abstract: Previous studies have identified the relationship between parental loss and psychopathology later in life. However, this relationship varied depending on the kind of loss, the parent involved, and the type of psychopathology. In the present study, we examined the association between parental loss (any loss, death, and separation) during childhood and lifetime risk for seven common psychiatric and substance use disorders in a sample of 2605 male twins from the Virginia population-based twin registry. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), we also examined the extent to which the influence of parental loss contributes to adult psychopathology. Parental separation was associated with a wide range of adult psychopathology, whereas parental death was specifically associated with phobia and alcohol dependence. Maternal and paternal separations were almost equally associated with most forms of psychopathology. SEM suggested that parental loss accounted for about 10% of the variance of adult psychopathology, of which parental separation had the strongest impacts on risk for depression and drug abuse/dependence (11% of the total variance). Our findings suggest that early parental separation has stronger and wider effects on adult psychopathology than parental death.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA; Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. Electronic address: totowa-psy@umin.org.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Otowa
authors.affiliation: Department of Human and Molecular Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Timothy P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: York
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Charles O
authors.initials: CO
authors.lastname: Gardner
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA; Department of Human and Molecular Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Kenneth S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Kendler
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Hettema
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D004200:Diseases in Twins / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D004243:Divorce / Q000523:psychology* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D063129:Parental Death / Q000523:psychology* / Q000639:trends; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods; D012307:Risk Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D014427:Twins / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Death; Mental disorders; Parental loss; Separation; Twins