The Department of Health Studies Seminar
Benjamin Lahey, PhD
University of Chicago - Dept. of Health Studies (Professor of Epidemiology)
&
Paul Rathouz, PhD
University of Chicago - Dept. of Health Studies (Associate Professor of Biostatistics)
“A Taxonomic Model for Gene Discovery in Child and
Adolescent Psychopathology”
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
3:30 p.m.
AMB W-229
5841 S. Maryland Ave.
Abstract: In order to plan molecular genetic studies of mental disorders in the most efficient ways, a model of the structure of genetic influences is needed. We compared alternative models of the structure of genetic influences on 10 prevalent child and adolescent mental disorders using hierarchical confirmatory factor analysis of genetic covariance’s among continuous dimensions of symptoms of these mental disorders. In a representative sample of 2,022 pairs of twins, the best-fitting model revealed that most genetic influences nonspecifically modify risk for either all 10 mental disorders or for one of two broad subsets of these mental disorders. Disorder-specific genes mostly accounted for modest amounts of genetic variance. These findings have important implications for both the taxonomy of prevalent forms of child and adolescent psychopathology and for the design of future studies of genetic and environmental risk factors. To guide future gene discovery, a new paradigm is offered in which three patterns of pleiotropy are hypothesized to be the principal modes of genetic risk transmission for common forms of child and adolescent psychopathology.
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