title: Spousal resemblance in psychopathology: A comparison of parents of children with and without psychopathology.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Spouses resemble each other for psychopathology, but data regarding spousal resemblance in externalizing psychopathology, and data regarding spousal resemblance across different syndromes (e.g. anxiety in wives and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD] in husbands) are limited. Moreover, knowledge is lacking regarding spousal resemblance in parents of children with psychiatric disorders. We investigated and compared spousal resemblance within and across internalizing and externalizing symptom domains in parents of children with and without psychopathology.
  
  
  METHODS
  Symptoms of depression, anxiety, avoidant personality, ADHD, and antisocial personality were assessed with the Adult Self Report in 728 mothers and 544 fathers of 778 children seen in child and adolescent psychiatric outpatient clinics and in 2075 mothers and 1623 fathers of 2784 children from a population-based sample. Differences in symptom scores and spousal correlations between the samples were tested.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Parents in the clinical sample had higher symptom scores than in the population-based sample. In both samples, correlations within and across internalizing and externalizing domains of psychopathology were significant. Importantly, correlations were significantly higher in the clinical sample (P=0.03). Correlations, within and across symptoms, ranged from 0.14 to 0.30 in the clinical sample and from 0.05 to 0.23 in the population-based sample.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This large study shows that spousal resemblance is not only present within but also across symptom domains. Especially in the clinical sample, ADHD symptoms in fathers and antisocial personality symptoms in mothers were correlated with a range of psychiatric symptoms in their spouses. Clinicians need to be alert of these multiple affected families.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, Van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands; EMGO+ Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Electronic address: l.w.wesseldijk@vu.nl.
authors.forename: L W
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Wesseldijk
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology, Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam/Sophia Children's Hospital, Wytemaweg 80, 3015 CN Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: G C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Dieleman
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center, Meibergdreef 5, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands; De Bascule, Academic Center for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: R J L
authors.initials: RJL
authors.lastname: Lindauer
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, Van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands; EMGO+ Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bartels
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, Van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands; EMGO+ Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Willemsen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Medicine (Division of Human Genetics), Center for Children, Youth and Families, University of Vermont, B229 Given B, Burlington, VT 05405, USA.
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Hudziak
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, Van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands; EMGO+ Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: D I
authors.initials: DI
authors.lastname: Boomsma
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, Van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, GGZ inGeest/VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Middeldorp
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D057566:Self Report
keywords: ADHD; Antisocial behavior; Depression; Psychopathology; Spousal resemblance