Extracting stability increases the SNP heritability of emotional problems in young people.

ABSTRACT: Twin studies have shown that emotional problems (anxiety and depression) in childhood and adolescence are moderately heritable (~20-50%). In contrast, DNA-based 'SNP heritability' estimates are generally <15% and non-significant. One notable feature of emotional problems is that they can be somewhat transient, but the moderate stability seen across time and across raters is predominantly influenced by stable genetic influences. This suggests that by capturing what is in common across time and across raters, we might be more likely to tap into any underlying genetic vulnerability. We therefore hypothesised that a phenotype capturing the pervasive stability of emotional problems would show higher heritability. We fitted single-factor latent trait models using 12 emotional problems measures a

SUBMITTER: Cheesman R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6193004 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature