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

Question 1

Design

Answer 1

National-register based cohort study

Question 2

Sample

Answer 2

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

Question 3

What was the aim of the study?

Answer 3

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

Question 4

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

Answer 4

196 with 270 children

Question 5

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

Answer 5

8000 couples with 14000 children

Question 6

Who was the study approved by?

Answer 6

Danish Data Protection Agency

Question 7

Why was the study approved?

Answer 7

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

Question 8

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

Answer 8

27.3% developed schizophrenia before the age of 52.

Question 9

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

Answer 9

67.5% developed a mental disorder

Question 10

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

Answer 10

7% developed schizophrenia before the age of 52.

Question 11

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

Answer 11

1% developed schizophrenia before the age of 52.

Question 12

Conclusions of this study?

Answer 12

Genetic explanation of mental illness is strongly supported.

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

Question 13

How is Gottesman’s study useful?

Answer 13

• 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

Question 14

What are the ethical considerations in Gottesmans’ study?

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Evaluate the validity of Gottesman’s study

Answer 15

• 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

Question 16

Evaluate the reliability of this study

Answer 16

• 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.

Question 17

Evaluate sampling bias of this study

Answer 17

• All individuals were from Denmark

- Only takes into consideration people born before 1997

Question 18

Evaluate ethnocentrism of this study

Answer 18

• 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.

Question 19

How is this research socially sensitive?

Answer 19

• 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.