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Posttraumatic stress disorder and its cross-generational familial relationship with drug use disorder and alcohol use disorder : an extended Swedish adoption study

Amstadter, Ananda B. ; Abrahamsson, Linda LU ; Cusack, Shannon ; Sundquist, Jan LU ; Kendler, Kenneth S. and Sundquist, Kristina LU (2024) In European Journal of Psychotraumatology 15(1).
Abstract

Objective: Information on how parental risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) relates to their children’s risk for drug use disorder (DUD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD) is limited. This study is the first to utilize an extended adoption design which can address questions about the degree of, and sources of, cross-generational and cross-disorder transmission of PTSD and substance use disorders. Method: We examined diagnoses using Swedish National registries for parents and their adult offspring (n = 2,194,171, born 1960–1992) from six types of families (intact (1), not lived with biological father (2) or mother (3), step father (4), step mother (5), and adoptive (6)). Parent–child resemblance was assessed by tetrachoric... (More)

Objective: Information on how parental risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) relates to their children’s risk for drug use disorder (DUD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD) is limited. This study is the first to utilize an extended adoption design which can address questions about the degree of, and sources of, cross-generational and cross-disorder transmission of PTSD and substance use disorders. Method: We examined diagnoses using Swedish National registries for parents and their adult offspring (n = 2,194,171, born 1960–1992) from six types of families (intact (1), not lived with biological father (2) or mother (3), step father (4), step mother (5), and adoptive (6)). Parent–child resemblance was assessed by tetrachoric correlation. Results: PTSD and DUD showed an approximately symmetrical cross-generational cross-disorder relationship. Conversely, AUD in parents was more related to the risk for PTSD in offspring compared to the reverse direction. The cross-disorder cross-generation transmission correlations for PTSD to DUD were higher than those for PTSD to AUD. Genetic and rearing correlations for PTSD-DUD were estimated at +.79 (CI:.66,.91) and +.49 (CI:.33,.65), significantly higher than those for PTSD-AUD +.59 (CI:.48,.71) and +.28 (CI:.12,.44). Conclusions: PTSD and the substance use disorders demonstrated cross-transmission, but more so for DUD. PTSD and DUD demonstrated highly correlated genetic effects, and moderately correlated rearing effects. Correlations of genetic and rearing effects between PTSD and AUD were lower than those for PTSD and DUD.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
adoption study, alcohol use disorder, drug use disorder, genetics, Posttraumatic stress disorder
in
European Journal of Psychotraumatology
volume
15
issue
1
article number
2439656
publisher
Taylor & Francis
external identifiers
  • scopus:85212681519
  • pmid:39692015
ISSN
2000-8066
DOI
10.1080/20008066.2024.2439656
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
b8238a9d-f615-474a-b5fa-03a074bee842
date added to LUP
2025-01-24 11:54:04
date last changed
2025-07-12 01:37:26
@article{b8238a9d-f615-474a-b5fa-03a074bee842,
  abstract     = {{<p>Objective: Information on how parental risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) relates to their children’s risk for drug use disorder (DUD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD) is limited. This study is the first to utilize an extended adoption design which can address questions about the degree of, and sources of, cross-generational and cross-disorder transmission of PTSD and substance use disorders. Method: We examined diagnoses using Swedish National registries for parents and their adult offspring (n = 2,194,171, born 1960–1992) from six types of families (intact (1), not lived with biological father (2) or mother (3), step father (4), step mother (5), and adoptive (6)). Parent–child resemblance was assessed by tetrachoric correlation. Results: PTSD and DUD showed an approximately symmetrical cross-generational cross-disorder relationship. Conversely, AUD in parents was more related to the risk for PTSD in offspring compared to the reverse direction. The cross-disorder cross-generation transmission correlations for PTSD to DUD were higher than those for PTSD to AUD. Genetic and rearing correlations for PTSD-DUD were estimated at +.79 (CI:.66,.91) and +.49 (CI:.33,.65), significantly higher than those for PTSD-AUD +.59 (CI:.48,.71) and +.28 (CI:.12,.44). Conclusions: PTSD and the substance use disorders demonstrated cross-transmission, but more so for DUD. PTSD and DUD demonstrated highly correlated genetic effects, and moderately correlated rearing effects. Correlations of genetic and rearing effects between PTSD and AUD were lower than those for PTSD and DUD.</p>}},
  author       = {{Amstadter, Ananda B. and Abrahamsson, Linda and Cusack, Shannon and Sundquist, Jan and Kendler, Kenneth S. and Sundquist, Kristina}},
  issn         = {{2000-8066}},
  keywords     = {{adoption study; alcohol use disorder; drug use disorder; genetics; Posttraumatic stress disorder}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{Taylor & Francis}},
  series       = {{European Journal of Psychotraumatology}},
  title        = {{Posttraumatic stress disorder and its cross-generational familial relationship with drug use disorder and alcohol use disorder : an extended Swedish adoption study}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2024.2439656}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/20008066.2024.2439656}},
  volume       = {{15}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}