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Co-twin comparisons address familial confounding by controlling for genetic and environmental influences that twin siblings share. We applied the co-twin comparison design to investigate associations of adolescent factors with alcohol... more
Co-twin comparisons address familial confounding by controlling for genetic and environmental influences that twin siblings share. We applied the co-twin comparison design to investigate associations of adolescent factors with alcohol dependence (AD) symptoms. Participants were 1286 individuals (581 complete twin pairs; 42% monozygotic; and 54% female) from the FinnTwin12 study. Predictors included adolescent academic achievement, substance use, externalizing problems, internalizing problems, executive functioning, peer environment, physical health, relationship with parents, alcohol expectancies, life events, and pubertal development. The outcome was lifetime AD clinical criterion count, as measured in young adulthood. We examined associations of each adolescent domain with AD symptoms in individual-level and co-twin comparison analyses. In individual-level analyses, adolescents with higher levels of substance use, teacher-reported externalizing problems at age 12, externalizing problems at age 14, self- and co-twin-reported internalizing problems, peer deviance, and perceived difficulty of life events reported more symptoms of AD in young adulthood (ps < .044). Conversely, individuals with higher academic achievement, social adjustment, self-rated health, and parent–child relationship quality met fewer AD clinical criteria (ps < .024). Associations between adolescent substance use, teacher-reported externalizing problems, co-twin-reported internalizing problems, peer deviance, self-rated health, and AD symptoms were of a similar magnitude in co-twin comparisons. We replicated many well-known adolescent correlates of later alcohol problems, including academic achievement, substance use, externalizing and internalizing problems, self-rated health, and features of the peer environment and parent–child relationship. Furthermore, we demonstrate the utility of co-twin comparisons for understanding pathways to AD. Effect sizes corresponding to the associations between adolescent substance use, teacher-reported externalizing problems, co-twin-reported internalizing problems, peer deviance, and self-rated health were not significantly attenuated (p value threshold = .05) after controlling for genetic and environmental influences that twin siblings share, highlighting these factors as candidates for further research.
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Research Interests: Genetics, Sociology, Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Health Psychology, and 15 moreBehavior Genetics, Medicine, Twins, Childhood, Adolescence, Adulthood, Adolescents, Heritability, Etiology, Body Mass Index, Family interaction, Behaviors, Twin Study, Neurosciences, and environmental influences
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Parents’ alcohol use is associated with alcohol use of their adolescent offspring, but does this association extend to the adulthood of the offspring? We examined associations of paternal and maternal problem drinking with lifetime... more
Parents’ alcohol use is associated with alcohol use of their adolescent offspring, but does this association extend to the adulthood of the offspring? We examined associations of paternal and maternal problem drinking with lifetime problem drinking of their adult offspring prospectively assessed in a population-based Finnish twin-family cohort (FinnTwin16). Problem drinking (Malmö-modified Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test) was self-reported separately by mothers and fathers when their children were 16. The children reported on an extended lifetime version of the same measure during their mid-twenties (21-28 years) and mid-thirties (31-37 years). 1235 sons and 1461 daughters in mid-twenties and 991 sons and 1278 daughters in mid-thirties had complete data. Correlations between fathers’ and their adult children’s problem drinking ranged from .12 to .18. For mothers and their adult children, these correlations ranged from .09 to .14. In multivariate models, adjustment for potential c...
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OBJECTIVE To investigate the genetic architecture of internalizing symptoms in childhood and adolescence. METHOD In 22 cohorts, multiple univariate genome-wide association studies (GWASs) were performed using repeated assessments of... more
OBJECTIVE To investigate the genetic architecture of internalizing symptoms in childhood and adolescence. METHOD In 22 cohorts, multiple univariate genome-wide association studies (GWASs) were performed using repeated assessments of internalizing symptoms, in a total of 64,561 children aged between 3 and 18. Results were aggregated in meta-analyses that accounted for sample overlap, first using all available data, and then using subsets of measurements grouped by rater, age and instrument. RESULTS The meta-analysis of overall internalizing symptoms (INToverall) detected no genome-wide significant hits and showed low single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) heritability (1.66%, 95% confidence intervals 0.84-2.48%, neffective=132,260). Stratified analyses indicated rater-based heterogeneity in genetic effects, with self-reported internalizing symptoms showing the highest heritability (5.63%, 95% confidence intervals 3.08-8.18%). Additive genetic effects on internalizing symptoms appeared stable over age, with overlapping estimates of SNP heritability from early-childhood to adolescence. Genetic correlations were observed with adult anxiety, depression, and the wellbeing spectrum (|rg|> 0.70), as well as with insomnia, loneliness, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, and childhood aggression (range |rg|=0.42-0.60), whereas there were no robust associations with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or anorexia nervosa. CONCLUSION Genetic correlations indicate that childhood and adolescent internalizing symptoms share substantial genetic vulnerabilities with adult internalizing disorders and other childhood psychiatric traits, which could partially explain both the persistence of internalizing symptoms over time and the high comorbidity amongst childhood psychiatric traits. Reducing phenotypic heterogeneity in childhood samples will be key in paving the way to future GWAS success.
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Substance use disorders (SUDs) incur serious social and personal costs. Risk for SUDs is complex, ranging from social conditions to individual genetic variation. We examined whether models that include a clinical/environmental risk index... more
Substance use disorders (SUDs) incur serious social and personal costs. Risk for SUDs is complex, ranging from social conditions to individual genetic variation. We examined whether models that include a clinical/environmental risk index (CERI) and polygenic scores (PGS) are able to identify individuals at increased risk of SUD in young adulthood across four longitudinal cohorts for a combined sample of N = 15,134. Our analyses included participants of European (NEUR = 12,659) and African (NAFR = 2,475) ancestries. SUD outcomes included: 1) alcohol dependence, 2) nicotine dependence; 3) drug dependence, and 4) any substance dependence. In the models containing the PGS and CERI, the CERI was associated with all three outcomes (ORs = 1.37 to 1.67). PGS for problematic alcohol use, externalizing, and smoking quantity were associated with alcohol dependence, drug dependence, and nicotine dependence, respectively (OR = 1.11 to 1.33). PGS for problematic alcohol use and externalizing were...
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Files include summary statistics for associations with each phenotype: Drinks per week, Cigarettes per day, Smoking initiation, Smoking cessation, and Age of initiation. Details for each file can be found in the readme file or in the... more
Files include summary statistics for associations with each phenotype: Drinks per week, Cigarettes per day, Smoking initiation, Smoking cessation, and Age of initiation. Details for each file can be found in the readme file or in the article's Supplementary Text.
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We test whether genetic influences that explain individual differences in aggression in early life also explain individual differences across the life-course. In two cohorts from The Netherlands (N = 13,471) and Australia (N = 5628),... more
We test whether genetic influences that explain individual differences in aggression in early life also explain individual differences across the life-course. In two cohorts from The Netherlands (N = 13,471) and Australia (N = 5628), polygenic scores (PGSs) were computed based on a genome-wide meta-analysis of childhood/adolescence aggression. In a novel analytic approach, we ran a mixed effects model for each age (Netherlands: 12–70 years, Australia: 16–73 years), with observations at the focus age weighted as 1, and decaying weights for ages further away. We call this approach a ‘rolling weights’ model. In The Netherlands, the estimated effect of the PGS was relatively similar from age 12 to age 41, and decreased from age 41–70. In Australia, there was a peak in the effect of the PGS around age 40 years. These results are a first indication from a molecular genetics perspective that genetic influences on aggressive behavior that are expressed in childhood continue to play a role l...
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Internalising symptoms in childhood and adolescence are as heritable as adult depression and anxiety, yet little is known of their molecular basis. This genome-wide association meta-analysis of internalising symptoms included repeated... more
Internalising symptoms in childhood and adolescence are as heritable as adult depression and anxiety, yet little is known of their molecular basis. This genome-wide association meta-analysis of internalising symptoms included repeated observations from 64,641 individuals, aged between 3 and 18. The N-weighted meta-analysis of overall internalising symptoms (INToverall) detected no genome-wide significant hits and showed low SNP heritability (1.66%, 95% confidence intervals 0.84-2.48%, Neffective=132,260). Stratified analyses indicated rater-based heterogeneity in genetic effects, with self-reported internalising symptoms showing the highest heritability (5.63%, 95% confidence intervals 3.08-8.18%). Additive genetic effects on internalising symptoms appeared stable over age, with overlapping estimates of SNP heritability from early-childhood to adolescence. Genetic correlations were observed with adult anxiety, depression, and the wellbeing spectrum (|rg|> 0.70), as well as with i...
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General cognitive function is a prominent human trait associated with many important life outcomes1,2, including longevity3. The substantial heritability of general cognitive function is known to be polygenic, but it has had little... more
General cognitive function is a prominent human trait associated with many important life outcomes1,2, including longevity3. The substantial heritability of general cognitive function is known to be polygenic, but it has had little explication in terms of the contributing genetic variants4,5,6. Here, we combined cognitive and genetic data from the CHARGE and COGENT consortia, and UK Biobank (total N=280,360; age range = 16 to 102). We found 9,714 genome-wide significant SNPs (P<5 x 10−8) in 99 independent loci. Most showed clear evidence of functional importance. Among many novel genes associated with general cognitive function wereSGCZ,ATXN1,MAPT,AUTS2, andP2RY6. Within the novel genetic loci were variants associated with neurodegenerative disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders, physical and psychiatric illnesses, brain structure, and BMI. Gene-based analyses found 536 genes significantly associated with general cognitive function; many were highly expressed in the brain, and a...
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Mega- or meta-analytic studies (e.g. genome-wide association studies) are increasingly used in behavior genetics. An issue in such studies is that phenotypes are often measured by different instruments across study cohorts, requiring... more
Mega- or meta-analytic studies (e.g. genome-wide association studies) are increasingly used in behavior genetics. An issue in such studies is that phenotypes are often measured by different instruments across study cohorts, requiring harmonization of measures so that more powerful fixed effect meta-analyses can be employed. Within the Genetics of Personality Consortium, we demonstrate for two clinically relevant personality traits, Neuroticism and Extraversion, how Item-Response Theory (IRT) can be applied to map item data from different inventories to the same underlying constructs. Personality item data were analyzed in…
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Physical activity is influenced by genetic factors whose expression may change with age. We employed an extension to the classical twin model that allows a modifier variable, age, to interact with the effects of the latent genetic and... more
Physical activity is influenced by genetic factors whose expression may change with age. We employed an extension to the classical twin model that allows a modifier variable, age, to interact with the effects of the latent genetic and environmental factors. The model was applied to self-reported data from twins aged 19 to 50 from seven countries that collaborated in the GenomEUtwin project: Australia, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Netherlands, Sweden and United Kingdom. Results confirmed the importance of genetic influences on physical activity in all countries and showed an age-related decrease in heritability for 4 countries. In the other three countries age did not interact with heritability but those samples were smaller or had a more restricted age range. Effects of shared environment were absent, except in older Swedish participants. The study confirms the importance of taking age effects into account when exploring the genetic and environmental contribution to physical activity. ...
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The present study assessed the etiology of individual differences in social support over a six-year period. The availability of friend support, family support, and the perceived adequacy of the social support network was assessed three... more
The present study assessed the etiology of individual differences in social support over a six-year period. The availability of friend support, family support, and the perceived adequacy of the social support network was assessed three times using identical and same-gender fraternal twins reared together and reared apart from the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging. Results are based on the pairwise responses at the three occasions of measurement (labeled Q1, Q2, and Q3): 462 pairs at Q1 (assessed October 1984), 474 pairs at Q2 (October 1987), and 431 pairs at Q3 (October 1990). The longitudinal phenotypic correlations (ranging from .49 to .77) indicate that social support is a moderately stable characteristic. Qualitative genetic model-fitting analyses resulted in significant heritability estimates for the social support measures at all three measurement occasions. Results also indicate considerable stability in genetic effects across measurement occasions, with genetic correlatio...
Research Interests: Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Applied Mathematics, Demography, Personality, and 15 moreIndividuality, Aging, Medicine, Humans, Female, Male, Heritability, Social Environment, Aged, Middle Aged, Adult, Public health systems and services research, Ageing, Developmental and Educational Psychology, and Geriatrics and Gerontology
Genetic liability to substance use disorders can be parsed into loci conferring general and substance-specific addiction risk. We report a multivariate genome-wide association study that disaggregates general and substance-specific loci... more
Genetic liability to substance use disorders can be parsed into loci conferring general and substance-specific addiction risk. We report a multivariate genome-wide association study that disaggregates general and substance-specific loci for problematic alcohol use, problematic tobacco use, and cannabis and opioid use disorders in a sample of 1,025,550 individuals of European and 92,630 individuals of African descent. Nineteen loci were genome-wide significant for the general addiction risk factor (addiction-rf), which showed high polygenicity. Across ancestries PDE4B was significant (among others), suggesting dopamine regulation as a cross-trait vulnerability. The addiction-rf polygenic risk score was associated with substance use disorders, psychopathologies, somatic conditions, and environments associated with the onset of addictions. Substance-specific loci (9 for alcohol, 32 for tobacco, 5 for cannabis, 1 for opioids) included metabolic and receptor genes. These findings provide...
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Previous longitudinal research suggests that motor proficiency in early life predicts physical activity in adulthood. Familial effects including genetic and environmental factors could explain the association, but no long-term follow-up... more
Previous longitudinal research suggests that motor proficiency in early life predicts physical activity in adulthood. Familial effects including genetic and environmental factors could explain the association, but no long-term follow-up studies have taken into account potential confounding by genetic and social family background. The present twin study investigated whether childhood motor skill development is associated with leisure-time physical activity levels in adulthood independent of family background. Altogether, 1550 twin pairs from the FinnTwin12 study and 1752 twin pairs from the FinnTwin16 study were included in the analysis. Childhood motor development was assessed by the parents&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; report of whether one of the co-twins had been ahead of the other in different indicators of motor skill development in childhood. Leisure-time physical activity (MET·h·d) was self-reported by the twins in young adulthood and adulthood. Statistical analyses included conditional and ordinary linear regression models within twin pairs. Using all activity-discordant twin pairs, the within-pair difference in a sum score of motor development in childhood predicted the within-pair difference in the leisure-time physical activity level in young adulthood (P &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.001). Within specific motor development indicators, learning to stand unaided earlier in infancy predicted higher leisure-time MET values in young adulthood statistically significantly in both samples (FinnTwin12, P = 0.02; and FinnTwin16, P = 0.001) and also in the pooled data set of the FinnTwin12 and FinnTwin16 studies (P &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.001). Having been more agile than the co-twin as a child predicted higher leisure-time MET values up to adulthood (P = 0.03). More advanced childhood motor development is associated with higher leisure-time MET values in young adulthood at least partly independent of family background in both men and women.
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Human growth is a complex process that remains insufficiently understood. We aimed to analyze genetic and environmental influences on growth from late childhood to early adulthood. Two cohorts of monozygotic and dizygotic (same sex and... more
Human growth is a complex process that remains insufficiently understood. We aimed to analyze genetic and environmental influences on growth from late childhood to early adulthood. Two cohorts of monozygotic and dizygotic (same sex and opposite sex) Finnish twin pairs were studied longitudinally using self-reported height at 11-12, 14, and 17 years and adult age (FinnTwin12) and at 16, 17, and 18 years and adult age (FinnTwin16). Univariate and multivariate variance component models for twin data were used. From childhood to adulthood, genetic differences explained 72-81% of the variation of height in boys and 65-86% in girls. Environmental factors common to co-twins explained 5-23% of the variation of height, with the residual variation explained by environmental factors unique to each twin individual. Common environmental factors affecting height were highly correlated between the analyzed ages (0.72-0.99 and 0.91-1.00 for boys and girls, respectively). Genetic (0.58-0.99 and 0.70-0.99, respectively) and unique environmental factors (0.32-0.78 and 0.54-0.82, respectively) affecting height at different ages were more weakly, but still substantially, correlated. The genetic contribution to height is strong during adolescence. The high genetic correlations detected across the ages encourage further efforts to identify genes affecting growth. Common and unique environmental factors affecting height during adolescence are also important, and further studies are necessary to identify their nature and test whether they interact with genetic factors.
Research Interests: Evolutionary Biology, Anthropology, Child Development, Adolescent Development, Biology, and 15 moreAdolescent, Finland, Growth, Humans, Child, Female, American, Longitudinal Studies, Adult, Age Factors, European Continental Ancestry Group, Body Height, Environment, Biochemistry and cell biology, and Cohort Studies
Research Interests: Genetics, Psychology, Personality, Behavior Genetics, Medicine, and 14 moreHumans, Neuroticism, Big Five Personality Traits, Trait, Heritability, Risk factors, Imputation, Single Nucleotide Polymorphism, Risk Factors, Genetic Architecture, Genetic Association, Neurosciences, Cohort Studies, and polygenic risk
Genome-wide, polygenic risk scores (PRS) have emerged as a useful way to characterize genetic liability. There is growing evidence that PRS may prove useful for early identification of those at increased risk for certain diseases. The... more
Genome-wide, polygenic risk scores (PRS) have emerged as a useful way to characterize genetic liability. There is growing evidence that PRS may prove useful for early identification of those at increased risk for certain diseases. The current potential of PRS for alcohol use disorders (AUD) remains an open question. Using data from both a population-based sample [the FinnTwin12 (FT12) study] and a high-risk sample [the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA)], we examined the association between PRSs derived from genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of (1) alcohol dependence/alcohol problems, (2) alcohol consumption, and (3) risky behaviors with AUD and other substance use disorder (SUD) criteria. These PRSs explain ~2.5–3.5% of the variance in AUD (across FT12 and COGA) when all PRSs are included in the same model. Calculations of area under the curve (AUC) show PRS provide only a slight improvement over a model with age, sex, and ancestral principal components ...
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Childhood aggressive behavior (AGG) has a substantial heritability of around 50%. Here we present a genome-wide association meta-analysis (GWAMA) of childhood AGG, in which all phenotype measures across childhood ages from multiple... more
Childhood aggressive behavior (AGG) has a substantial heritability of around 50%. Here we present a genome-wide association meta-analysis (GWAMA) of childhood AGG, in which all phenotype measures across childhood ages from multiple assessors were included. We analyzed phenotype assessments for a total of 328 935 observations from 87 485 children aged between 1.5 and 18 years, while accounting for sample overlap. We also meta-analyzed within subsets of the data, i.e., within rater, instrument and age. SNP-heritability for the overall meta-analysis (AGGoverall) was 3.31% (SE = 0.0038). We found no genome-wide significant SNPs for AGGoverall. The gene-based analysis returned three significant genes: ST3GAL3 (P = 1.6E–06), PCDH7 (P = 2.0E–06), and IPO13 (P = 2.5E–06). All three genes have previously been associated with educational traits. Polygenic scores based on our GWAMA significantly predicted aggression in a holdout sample of children (variance explained = 0.44%) and in retrospect...
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The purpose of this review is to provide a detailed and updated description of the FinnTwin16 (FT16) study and its future directions. The Finnish Twin Cohort comprises three different cohorts: the Older Twin Cohort established in the... more
The purpose of this review is to provide a detailed and updated description of the FinnTwin16 (FT16) study and its future directions. The Finnish Twin Cohort comprises three different cohorts: the Older Twin Cohort established in the 1970s and the FinnTwin12 and FT16 initiated in the 1990s. FT16 was initiated in 1991 to identify the genetic and environmental precursors of alcoholism, but later the scope of the project expanded to studying the determinants of various health-related behaviors and diseases in different stages of life. The main areas addressed are alcohol use and its consequences, smoking, physical activity, overall physical health, eating behaviors and eating disorders, weight development, obesity, life satisfaction and personality. To date, five waves of data collection have been completed and the sixth is now planned. Data from the FT16 cohort have contributed to several hundred studies and many substudies, with more detailed phenotyping and collection of omics data ...
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Genome-wide, polygenic risk scores (PRS) have emerged as a useful way to characterize genetic liability using genotypic data. There is growing evidence that PRS may prove useful to identify those at increased risk for developing certain... more
Genome-wide, polygenic risk scores (PRS) have emerged as a useful way to characterize genetic liability using genotypic data. There is growing evidence that PRS may prove useful to identify those at increased risk for developing certain diseases. The current utility of PRS in relation to alcohol use disorders (AUD) remains an open question. Using data from both a population-based sample [the FinnTwin12 (FT12) study] and a high risk sample [the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA)], we examined the association between PRSs derived from genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of 1) alcohol dependence/alcohol problems, 2) alcohol consumption, and 3) risky behaviors with AUD and other substance use disorder (SUD) symptoms. Individuals in the top 20%, 10%, and 5% of PRSs had increasingly greater odds of having an AUD compared to the lower end of the continuum in both COGA (80th% OR = 1.95; 90th% OR = 2.03; 95th% OR = 2.13) and FT12 (80th% OR = 1.77; 90th% OR = 2.27; 9...
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The older Finnish Twin Cohort (FTC) was established in 1974. The baseline survey was in 1975, with two follow-up health surveys in 1981 and 1990. The fourth wave of assessments was done in three parts, with a questionnaire study of twins... more
The older Finnish Twin Cohort (FTC) was established in 1974. The baseline survey was in 1975, with two follow-up health surveys in 1981 and 1990. The fourth wave of assessments was done in three parts, with a questionnaire study of twins born during 1945–1957 in 2011–2012, while older twins were interviewed and screened for dementia in two time periods, between 1999 and 2007 for twins born before 1938 and between 2013 and 2017 for twins born in 1938–1944. The content of these wave 4 assessments is described and some initial results are described. In addition, we have invited twin-pairs, based on response to the cohortwide surveys, to participate in detailed in-person studies; these are described briefly together with key results. We also review other projects based on the older FTC and provide information on the biobanking of biosamples and related phenotypes.
Research Interests: Cognitive Science, Dementia, Aging, Physical Activity, Epigenetics, and 15 moreMedicine, Review, Hypertension, Alcohol, Blood Pressure, Cohort Study, Longitudinal, Cohort, Clinical Sciences, Skeletal Muscle, Biobank, Depressive Symptoms, Hormone Replacement Therapy, environmental influences, and Paediatrics and reproductive medicine
Research Interests: Health Psychology, Demography, Depression, Risk, Health, and 15 morePrevention Science, Medicine, Anxiety, Substance Use, Adolescence, Nicotine, Medication, Prevalence, Cigarette Smoking, Public health systems and services research, Longitudinal Study, ANXIETY, Depressive Symptoms, Prevention programs, and confounding
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Research Interests: Demography, Addiction, Medicine, Population, Age, and 15 moreCohort Study, Longitudinal, Gender Differences, Heritability, Abstinence, Cohort, Initiation, Drinking Patterns, Neurology and Psychiatry, Alcohol Use, Period, Environment, drinkers, Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, and Medical and Health Sciences
Research Interests: Psychology, Medicine, Twins, Humans, Alcohol, and 15 moreAlcoholism, Female, Alcohol Drinking, Male, Ethanol, Social Environment, Phenotype, Educational Attainment, Questionnaires, Public health systems and services research, Time Factors, Educational Status, European Continental Ancestry Group, Environment, and Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
Research Interests: Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Child Development, Physical Activity, Medicine, and 15 moreHumans, Child, Adolescence, Female, Male, Exercise, Longitudinal Studies, Adult, Longitudinal Study, Motor Skill, Medicine and Science In Sports and Exercise, Motor Skills, Leisure Activities, Motor activity, and confounding
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Research Interests: Developmental Psychology, Child Development, Aging, Language Development, Adolescent, and 15 moreFinland, Humans, Child, Adolescence, Alcoholism, Female, Alcohol Drinking, Data Collection, Intoxication, Clinical Sciences, Longitudinal Studies, Educational Status, Drinking, Logistic Models, and Cohort Studies
Research Interests: Genetics, Health Psychology, Addiction, Behavior Genetics, Adolescent, and 15 moreHumans, Child, Genetic Association Studies, Drug abuse, Cannabis, Alcohol dependence, Adult, European Continental Ancestry Group, Genetic Association, Case Control Studies, Cohort Studies, alleles, Brain Disorders, Gene frequency, and Genetic predisposition to disease
Eating disorders and substance use disorders frequently co-occur. Twin studies reveal shared genetic variance between liabilities to eating disorders and substance use, with the strongest associations between symptoms of bulimia nervosa... more
Eating disorders and substance use disorders frequently co-occur. Twin studies reveal shared genetic variance between liabilities to eating disorders and substance use, with the strongest associations between symptoms of bulimia nervosa (BN) and problem alcohol use (genetic correlation [rg], twin-based=0.23-0.53). We estimated the genetic correlation between eating disorder and substance use and disorder phenotypes using data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Four eating disorder phenotypes (anorexia nervosa [AN], AN with binge-eating, AN without binge-eating, and a BN factor score), and eight substance-use-related phenotypes (drinks per week, alcohol use disorder [AUD], smoking initiation, current smoking, cigarettes per day, nicotine dependence, cannabis initiation, and cannabis use disorder) from eight studies were included. Significant genetic correlations were adjusted for variants associated with major depressive disorder (MDD). Total sample sizes per phenotype rang...
Research Interests: Genetics, Eating Disorders, Biology, Medicine, Anorexia Nervosa, and 15 moreBulimia Nervosa, Humans, Clinical research, Alcoholism, Depressive Disorder, Human Genome, Major, Linkage Disequilibrium, Binge Eating Disorder, Genetic Association, Binge eating, Genetic Correlation, Feeding and Eating Disorders, Brain Disorders, and Medical and Health Sciences
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The mu1 opioid receptor gene, OPRM1, has long been a high-priority candidate for human genetic studies of addiction. Because of its potential functional significance, the non-synonymous variant rs1799971 (A118G, Asn40Asp) in OPRM1 has... more
The mu1 opioid receptor gene, OPRM1, has long been a high-priority candidate for human genetic studies of addiction. Because of its potential functional significance, the non-synonymous variant rs1799971 (A118G, Asn40Asp) in OPRM1 has been extensively studied, yet its role in addiction has remained unclear, with conflicting association findings. To resolve the question of what effect, if any, rs1799971 has on substance dependence risk, we conducted collaborative meta-analyses of 25 datasets with over 28,000 European-ancestry subjects. We investigated non-specific risk for "general" substance dependence, comparing cases dependent on any substance to controls who were non-dependent on all assessed substances. We also examined five specific substance dependence diagnoses: DSM-IV alcohol, opioid, cannabis, and cocaine dependence, and nicotine dependence defined by the proxy of heavy/light smoking (cigarettes-per-day…