Friend’s genetic makeup may impact risk of mental health problems: study

Friendships in adolescence may be crucial to mental health. Scientists are talking not only about the support they provide during hard times, but also about how their genetic makeup may affect you. The characteristics of your friends, particularly their genetic predisposition to mental health problems, may affect your mental health risks, a recent study has revealed.

Sociogenomics is a topic of growing interest that examines the influence of one person’s genotype on the observable characteristics of another person. test A 2012 study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry examined the influence of sociogenetic factors on peers and found that a person’s genetic predisposition to addiction, anxiety, and depression can have long-term consequences for their peers during adolescence, affecting their risk of developing similar mental health problems later in life.

“Genetic predisposition of peers to mental and substance operate disorders is associated with an individual’s risk of developing the same disorders in teenage adulthood,” said Jessica E. Salvatore, lead author of the study in press release.

“Our data exemplify the far-reaching reach of social genetic effects,” Salvatore said.

The study was based on a database of more than 1.5 million people born in Sweden between 1980 and 1998. The researchers first mapped the individuals by location and school during adolescence. They then analyzed medical, pharmaceutical, and legal records to track substance operate and mental health disorders in adulthood. They used models to test whether peer genetic risk predicted a person’s risk of developing substance abuse, major depression, or anxiety. Peer genetic risk was assessed using familial genetic risk scores for the same conditions.

“Even after taking into account factors such as the genetic predisposition of the targets and family socioeconomic factors, the researchers found a clear association between the genetic predisposition of peers and their likelihood of developing a substance abuse or mental disorder. The effects were stronger among peers from schools than among peers from specific geographic areas,” the press release said.

The researchers found that these links were most pronounced among high school classmates, especially those who attended the same vocational or college-preparatory school between ages 16 and 19. The genetic influence of peers was stronger for problems like drug and alcohol operate disorders compared with major depression and anxiety disorders.

“The most obvious explanation for why peers’ genetic predispositions might be linked to our own well-being is the idea that our peers’ genetic predispositions influence their phenotype, or the likelihood that the peers are also affected by the disorder. However, in our analysis, we found that peers’ genetic predispositions were associated with the likelihood of the disorder in the target individuals, even after statistically controlling for whether the peers were affected or not,” Salvatore said, adding that more research is needed to understand the mechanism.