2024/10/27 by Nora R. Bakken, Nadine Parker, Laurie J. Hannigan +12 · 1 voice
Neuroscience · Psychology · #Autism Spectrum Disorder Research #Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development #Cognitive Abilities and Testing
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/jcpp.14063
openalex publication_date 2024/10/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Background Symptoms related to mood and anxiety disorders (emotional disorders) often present in childhood and adolescence. Some of the genetic liability for mental disorders, and emotional and behavioral difficulties seems to be shared. Yet, it is unclear how genetic liability for emotional disorders and related traits influence trajectories of childhood behavioral and emotional difficulties, and if specific developmental patterns are associated with higher genetic liability for these disorders. Methods This study uses data from a genotyped sample of children ( n = 54,839) from the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). We use latent growth models (1.5–5 years) and latent profile analyses (1.5–8 years) to quantify childhood trajectories and profiles of emotional and behavioral difficulties and diagnoses. We examine associations between these trajectories and profiles with polygenic scores for bipolar disorder (PGS BD ), anxiety (PGS ANX ), depression (PGS DEP ), and neuroticism (PGS NEUR ). Results Associations between PGS DEP , PGS ANX , and PGS NEUR , and emotional and behavioral difficulties in childhood were more persistent than age‐specific across early childhood (1.5–5 years). Higher PGS ANX and PGS DEP were associated with steeper increases in behavioral difficulties across early childhood. Latent profile analyses identified five profiles with different associations with emotional disorder diagnosis. All PGS were associated with the probability of classification into profiles characterized by some form of difficulties (vs. a normative reference profile), but only PGS BD was uniquely associated with a single developmental profile. Conclusions Genetic risk for mood disorders and related traits contribute to both a higher baseline level of, and a more rapid increase in, emotional and behavioral difficulties across early and middle childhood, with some indications for disorder‐specific profiles. Our findings may inform research on developmental pathways to emotional disorders and the improvement of initiatives for early identification and targeted intervention.