Although adoption is a widespread phenomenon in the US, little research has examined the impacts on biological siblings. This paper uses two representative datasets to compare educational attainments of individuals who grew up with an adopted sibling and those that did not. We find large heterogeneity (based on sex, family income, and age difference) in the effects of having an adopted sibling. In general, the effects on sisters’ education levels are less pronounced than the effects on brothers’. For brothers, we find evidence that family income further moderates differential effects, where males from low-income families have lower education if they have an adopted sibling but males from higher income families do not. The effects are greater when the adopted sibling is close in age to the biological child. Our results have implications for our understanding of family dynamics as well as how sex shapes educational attainments of children.
Research suggests that the quality of sibling relationships has a significant impact on the lives of adults with schizophrenia. A life course perspective was used to guide an investigation of the predictors of the quality of the relationship between adults with schizophrenia and their siblings.The data come from a longitudinal study of families of adults with schizophrenia. This study is based on a survey of 136 siblings of adults with schizophrenia. Multiple regression was used to estimate the predictors of sibling relationship quality.Siblings reported a better relationship when they grew up in a more cohesive family environment (beta=.16, p<.05) and when they experienced more personal gains from coping with the challenges of a brother's or sister's mental illness (beta=.37, p<.001). Siblings reported a worse relationship when they perceived their brother or sister with schizophrenia as having control over his or her symptoms (beta=-.18, p<.05), expressed greater fear of their brother's or sister's behavior (beta=-.17, p<.05), and indicated that their brother or sister had struck or threatened them at some point in their lives (beta=-.18, p<.05).The quality of the sibling relationship is a major contributor to sibling involvement in the future and to the quality of life of adults with schizophrenia. By identifying the factors associated with positive sibling relationships, mental health providers will be better prepared to engage siblings in the treatment process and help promote stronger bonds of affection between adults with schizophrenia and their siblings.
Changes in the fragile X mental retardation 1 gene (FMR1) have been associated with specific phenotypes, most specifically those of fragile X syndrome (FXS), fragile X tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS), and fragile X primary ovarian insufficiency (FXPOI). Evidence of increased risk for additional medical, psychiatric, and cognitive features and conditions is now known to exist for individuals with a premutation, although some features have been more thoroughly studied than others. This review highlights the literature on medical, reproductive, cognitive, and psychiatric features, primarily in females, that have been suggested to be associated with changes in the FMR1 gene. Based on this review, each feature is evaluated with regard to the strength of evidence of association with the premutation. Areas of need for additional focused research and possible intervention strategies are suggested.
Expressed emotion (EE), a measure of the family's emotional climate, is a fundamental measure in caregiving research. A core dimension of EE is the level of criticism expressed by the caregiver to the care recipient, with a high level of criticism a marker of significant distress in the household. The Five-Minute Speech Sample (FMSS), the most commonly used brief measure of EE, requires time-consuming manual processing and scoring by a highly trained expert. In this study, we used natural language processing and supervised machine learning techniques to develop a fully automated framework to evaluate caregiver criticism level based on the verbatim transcript of the FMSS. The success of the machine learning algorithm was established by demonstrating that the classification of maternal caregivers as high versus low EE was consistent with the classification of these 298 maternal caregivers of adult children with schizophrenia using standard manual coding procedures, with area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of 0.76. Evidence of construct validity was established by demonstrating that maternal caregivers of adults with schizophrenia, who were classified as having a high level of criticism had higher levels of caregiver burden, reported that their child had more psychiatric symptoms and behaviors and perceived that their child had greater control over these symptoms and behaviors. Additionally, maternal caregivers who had high levels of criticism reported having a poorer quality of relationship with their child with schizophrenia than maternal caregivers low on criticism. Rapid measurement of criticism facilitates the incorporation of this dimension into research across a broad range of caregiving contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
Abstract Millions of people globally are at high risk for neurodegenerative disorders, infertility or having children with a disability as a result of the Fragile X (FX) premutation, a genetic abnormality in FMR1 that is underdiagnosed. Despite the high prevalence of the FX premutation and its effect on public health and family planning, most FX premutation carriers are unaware of their condition. Since genetic testing for the premutation is resource intensive, it is not practical to screen individuals for FX premutation status using genetic testing. In a novel approach to phenotyping, we have utilized audio recordings and cognitive profiling assessed via self-administered questionnaires on 200 females. Machine-learning methods were developed to discriminate FX premutation carriers from mothers of children with autism spectrum disorders, the comparison group. By using a random forest classifier, FX premutation carriers could be identified in an automated fashion with high precision and recall (0.81 F1 score). Linguistic and cognitive phenotypes that were highly associated with FX premutation carriers were high language dysfluency, poor ability to organize material, and low self-monitoring. Our framework sets the foundation for computational phenotyping strategies to pre-screen large populations for this genetic variant with nominal costs.
Neuroticism is a stable and heritable personality trait that is strongly linked to depression. Yet, little is known about its association with late life depression, as well as how neuroticism eventuates into depression. This study used data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS; N=4,877) to examine the direct and indirect effects of neuroticism on late life depression at three points in the life course – ages 53, 64, and 71 – via stressful life events (i.e., independent and dependent) and social supports measured across adulthood and into later life. Neuroticism was rigorously assayed using multiple methods, including self-report measures and a polygenic score informed by a meta-analytic genome-wide association study. Results indicated that the association between self-reported neuroticism and late life depression was partially mediated via the effects of dependent stressful life events experienced after the age of 53 and by age 64 (T2) social support. There were no specific indirect effects of self-reported neuroticism on depression through the effects of age 53 social support (T1), age 71 social support (T3), adult dependent stressful life events (experienced between age 19 and 52), and adult and late life independent stressful life events. These associations were replicated when we examined the direct and indirect effects of the polygenic score for neuroticism on late life depression, providing key evidence that our findings are robust. Results are consistent with previous findings that individuals with high neuroticism may be vulnerable to late life depression through psychosocial risk factors that are, in part, attributable to their own personality.
This study investigated the associations between the characteristics of adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and maternal well-being. Two groups were compared: mothers of adolescents and adults with ASD and co-morbid psychiatric disorders (n = 142) and mothers whose sons or daughters had a single diagnosis of ASD (n = 130). Individuals with co-morbid psychiatric disorders had higher levels of repetitive behaviors, asocial behavior, and unpredictability of behavior than their counterparts with ASD only. They also had poorer rated health as well as more frequent gastrointestinal problems and sleep problems. Mothers of sons and daughters with ASD and co-morbid psychiatric disorders reported higher levels of burden and a poorer quality parent-child relationship than mothers of sons and daughters with ASD only. Higher levels of asocial behavior, unpredictability of behavior, and poorer health in sons and daughters with ASD were predictive of greater burden in mothers and a poorer quality parent-child relationship.
Aging mothers who lived with an adult child with either mental retardation (n = 308) or mental illness (n = 73) were studied prospectively over a three-year period to determine the antecedents and consequences of the end of co-residence between the aging mother and adult child. Different factors predicted the end of co-residence for the two sub-samples, but the consequences of this transition with respect to maternal burden and depressive symptoms were similar for the two groups. There was a high level of contact between the aging parent and adult child with disabilities even after the period of co-residence ended. Recently, caregiving for the elderly has been conceptualized as a career with three phases: (a) co-resident caregiving, (b) institutional placement, and (c) bereavement (Aneshensel, Pearlin, Mullan, Zarit, & Whitlatch, 1995; Pearlin, 1992). It has been argued that caregiving is a transformative experience for the caregiver because transitions into and out of this role are accompanied by identity shifts as well as changes in well-being (Pearlin, 1992; Skaff, Pearlin, & Mullan, 1996). Although the career model was conceptualized in the context of caregiving for an elderly relative with Alzheimer's disease, it may have broader applicability to other forms of family caregiving. A less common but increasingly recognized type of family care is provided by aging parents who have continuing caregiving responsibilities for a son or daughter with disabilities (Lefley, 1987; Seltzer & Krauss, 1994). The emergence of this type of caregiving is the result of several trends, including the increased longevity of persons with disabilities (Eyman & BorthwickDuffy, 1994), the aging of the baby boom generation which includes a population bulge of persons with disabilities (Greenley, 1990; Janicki & Wisniewski, 1985), and social policies of deinstitutionalization and enhanced community care which thrust parents into a primary caregiving role (Fisher, Benson, & Tessler, 1990; Fujiura & Braddock, 1992; Lefley & Wasow, 1994; Thompson & Doll, 1982). It is now the norm for parents to be actively involved in providing or overseeing the care of their adult child with disabilities. Most of these adults will ultimately outlive their parents. Although for some families, the end of caregiving occurs when the parents die, for others the transition to nonparental care occurs while the parents are still alive and the adult moves away from the parental home. Guided by the conceptualization of caregiving as a career, we examine one transition of the caregiving career for aging parents of adult children with disabilities. This transition is analogous to the move from Phase 1 to Phase 2 in the Aneshensel et al. (1995) model, or from co-residence between the parent and the adult with disabilities to the period in which the adult lives elsewhere (though not necessarily in an institutional setting, as in the Aneshensel et al. model). Although there is a growing understanding of the nature and impacts of co-resident parenting of adults with disabilities (Greenberg, Seltzer, & Greenley, 1993; Heller & Factor, 1994; Pruchno, Patrick, & Burant, 1995; Seltzer, Greenberg, & Krauss, 1995), very little is known about the factors leading to the end of this phase or about parental adaptation to the post-caregiving phase. Therefore, our goal in this paper is to investigate the factors that predict the end of coresident caregiving for mothers of adults with disabilities and the consequences of this transition for maternal feelings of subjective burden and depressive symptoms. Background Parental Caregiving for Adults with Mental Retardation or Mental Illness Research on parental caregiving for adults with disabilities has revealed that there are both frustrations and gratifications associated with this role (Pruchno et al., 1995). The balance of positive and negative adaptations depends in large part on the specific disability of the adult child, the level of societal acceptance or stigma, and the formal and informal support systems available to or created by parents. …
Using a cross-lagged panel design, we investigated the impact of positive family processes on change in autism symptoms and behaviors. A sample of 149 co-residing mothers and their adolescent or adult child with autism was drawn from a large, longitudinal study. Maternal warmth and praise were measured using coded speech samples in which mothers talked about their son or daughter. A high level of relationship quality was associated with subsequent reductions in internalizing and externalizing problems as well as reductions in impairments in social reciprocity and repetitive behaviors. Maternal warmth and praise were also related to symptom abatement in the repetitive behaviors domain.
