Gottesman et. al. (2010) Disorders in offspring with two psychiatrically ill parents Flashcards

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1
Q

Design

A

National-register based cohort study

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2
Q

Sample

A

2.6 million Danish people born before 1997 with an identifiable link to their mother and father

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3
Q

What was the aim of the study?

A

To investigate the risk of offspring having a psychiatric disorder when both parents have a disorder

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4
Q

How many couples with both a diagnosis of schizophrenia? How many children?

A

196 with 270 children

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5
Q

How many couples with one having a diagnosis of schizophrenia? How many children?

A

8000 couples with 14000 children

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6
Q

Who was the study approved by?

A

Danish Data Protection Agency

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7
Q

Why was the study approved?

A

Because all people living in Denmark have a unique identification number, thus no information can lead up to their identification.

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8
Q

What percentage of offspring with both parents being diagnosed with schizophrenia had developed schizophrenia?

A

27.3% developed schizophrenia before the age of 52.

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9
Q

What percentage of offspring developed a mental disorder when both parents had a mental disorder?

A

67.5% developed a mental disorder

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10
Q

What percentage of offspring developed schizophrenia when one parent was diagnosed with schizophrenia?

A

7% developed schizophrenia before the age of 52.

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11
Q

What percentage of offspring developed schizophrenia when neither parents had a diagnosis of schizophrenia?

A

1% developed schizophrenia before the age of 52.

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12
Q

Conclusions of this study?

A

Genetic explanation of mental illness is strongly supported.

The role of genetics in the development of schizophrenia are highly influential

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13
Q

How is Gottesman’s study useful?

A
  • Improves the understanding of how genetics can influence the development of mental disorders like schizophrenia.
  • Useful for genetic counselling, summing the risks of having children
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14
Q

What are the ethical considerations in Gottesmans’ study?

A
  • Ethical due to the anonymity provided by each Danish citizen having a unique identification number. Identification of individuals was not possible
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15
Q

Evaluate the validity of Gottesman’s study

A
  • high ecological validity due to it being a natural experiment. All of the data was taken from the national register.
  • Validity is affected as not every person may seek medical treatment, not being diagnosed
  • Factors such as the shared environment and upbringing can affect the development of mental illness
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16
Q

Evaluate the reliability of this study

A
  • Low inter-rater reliability due to the subjective interpretation and diagnosis of patients by clinicians that can differ greatly, thus clinicians can diagnose different mental illnesses.
17
Q

Evaluate sampling bias of this study

A
  • All individuals were from Denmark

- Only takes into consideration people born before 1997

18
Q

Evaluate ethnocentrism of this study

A
  • All of the findings are specific to the general population of Denmark, thus it cannot be generalized to other cultures where many different components are different, such as upbringing.
19
Q

How is this research socially sensitive?

A
  • The research leads to the understanding that genetics have an influence of developing mental illness. If a person is closely related to a person with a mental illness, it may induce some anxiety and distress, as it raises the question as to whether they will develop the same illness.