Implications of Genotype-Environment Correlation

Image A: an adult man with a group of children standing on rocks on a river stream

Week 5 - What are possible implications of gene-environment correlation (rGE) for prevention and treatment of mental health problems?

There are three types of genotype-environment correlation (rGE), which are passive, evocative, and active. The existence of rGE raises two possible implications - one being the relationship between psychosocial risk factors and psychiatric outcomes is confounded by genotype, and the other viewing the same relationship as causal. In the first possibility, modifying the risk environment will have little effect on psychiatric illness. In the second possibility, modifying exposure to the risk environment should reduce levels of psychiatric illness. There are often reciprocal relationships between psychosocial risk factors and psychiatric outcomes. In clinical practice, for many mental health disorders, successful treatments and interventions need to be targeted at multiple levels. For instance, patients can be trained to avoid situations that jeopardise their psychological wellbeing and to modify behaviours that make others react negatively.

The impact of rGE on mental health problems was specifically looked at in research which examined the role of passive rGE in childhood depression (Rice et al., 2010). Passive rGE refers to the association between the genotype a child inherits from their parents and the environment in which the child is raised in. They found a reduced environmental transmission of depression for opposite-sex parent-child dyads, as such, sons are less likely to develop depression through passive rGE compared to daughters. Maternal positivity was associated with maternal depression, regardless of genetic relatability.

The presence of passive rGE highlights that mental health transmission may extend beyond the role of nature and nurture interplay. Parents with depression are more likely to have higher levels of negative interpretation bias towards themselves and their children, in comparison to healthy individuals (Nieto Romero, 2022). For children at risk of developing depression, parents should be treated for depression during their child's early years to reduce the environmental influence on children's depression. Genetic factors are the primary influences for depression, so family-based interventions can prevent and treat childhood depression, along with other youth mental health problems. Along with these benefits, they can also improve parenting skills and decrease parental stress.

Image B: a girl looking sad, this image is supposed to portray depression

References

Nieto Romero, I. (2022). Sesgos emocionales de interpretación: desarrollo y validación de un programa breve de modificación de sesgos cognitivos con una aproximación clínica (MSC-IClin).

Rice, F., Lewis, G., Harold, G. T., & Thapar, A. (2013). Examining the role of passive gene–environment correlation in childhood depression using a novel genetically sensitive design. Development and Psychopathology, 25(1), 37-50.

Signing off,

burnt toast, sweet tea;

Image C: a family of four in nature