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Intergenerational transmission of ADHD behaviors: genetic and environmental pathways

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2023

Thomas H. Kleppesto Open the ORCID record for Thomas H. Kleppesto [Opens in a new window] ,
Espen Moen Eilertsen Open the ORCID record for Espen Moen Eilertsen [Opens in a new window] ,
Elsje van Bergen Open the ORCID record for Elsje van Bergen [Opens in a new window] ,
Hans Fredrik Sunde Open the ORCID record for Hans Fredrik Sunde [Opens in a new window] ,
Brendan Zietsch Open the ORCID record for Brendan Zietsch [Opens in a new window] ,
Magnus Nordmo Open the ORCID record for Magnus Nordmo [Opens in a new window] ,
Nikolai Haahjem Eftedal ,
Alexandra Havdahl Open the ORCID record for Alexandra Havdahl [Opens in a new window] ,
Eivind Ystrom Open the ORCID record for Eivind Ystrom [Opens in a new window]  and
Fartein Ask Torvik Open the ORCID record for Fartein Ask Torvik [Opens in a new window]
Thomas H. Kleppesto*
Affiliation:
Centre for Fertility and Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway Department of Psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
Espen Moen Eilertsen
Affiliation:
Centre for Fertility and Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Elsje van Bergen
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Research Institute LEARN!, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Hans Fredrik Sunde
Affiliation:
Centre for Fertility and Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Brendan Zietsch
Affiliation:
Centre for Psychology and Evolution, School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Magnus Nordmo
Affiliation:
Centre for Fertility and Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway Department of Educational Science, University of South-Eastern Norway, Notodden, Norway
Nikolai Haahjem Eftedal
Affiliation:
PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Alexandra Havdahl
Affiliation:
PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway Department of Mental Disorders, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway Nic Waals Institute, Spångbergveien 25, 0853 Oslo, Norway MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
Eivind Ystrom
Affiliation:
PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway Department of Mental Disorders, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
Fartein Ask Torvik
Affiliation:
Centre for Fertility and Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
*
Corresponding author: Thomas H. Kleppesto; Email: Thomas.kleppesto@ntnu.no
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Abstract

Background

We investigate if covariation between parental and child attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) behaviors can be explained by environmental and/or genetic transmission.

Methods

We employed a large children-of-twins-and-siblings sample (N = 22 276 parents and 11 566 8-year-old children) of the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study. This enabled us to disentangle intergenerational influences via parental genes and parental behaviors (i.e. genetic and environmental transmission, respectively). Fathers reported on their own symptoms and mothers on their own and their child's symptoms.

Results

Child ADHD behaviors correlated with their mother's (0.24) and father's (0.10) ADHD behaviors. These correlations were largely due to additive genetic transmission. Variation in children's ADHD behaviors was explained by genetic factors active in both generations (11%) and genetic factors specific to the children (46%), giving a total heritability of 57%. There were small effects of parental ADHD behaviors (2% environmental transmission) and gene–environment correlation (3%). The remaining variability in ADHD behaviors was due to individual-specific environmental factors.

Conclusions

The intergenerational resemblance of ADHD behaviors is primarily due to genetic transmission, with little evidence for parental ADHD behaviors causing children's ADHD behaviors. This contradicts theories proposing environmental explanations of intergenerational transmission of ADHD, such as parenting theories or psychological life-history theory.

Keywords

ADHDgene–environment interplayheritabilityintergenerational transmissionlife-history theoryparenting
Type
Original Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 54 , Issue 7 , May 2024 , pp. 1309 - 1317
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

*

Shared senior authorship.

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