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The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines (1998), 39: 711-720 Cambridge University Press
Research Article

Psychopathology among Offspring of Parents with Substance Abuse and/or Anxiety Disorders: A High-risk Study

Kathleen R. Merikangas a1 c1 , Lisa C. Dierker a1 and Peter Szatmari a2
a1 Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, U.S.A.
a2 McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a high-risk study of children under age 18 of parents who served as probands in a family study of comorbidity of substance abuse and anxiety disorders. There was a strong degree of specificity of familial aggregation of both the anxiety disorders and substance disorders. Rates of conduct disorder and depression were elevated among offspring of all affected parents. Inclusion of co-parent disorders in the evaluation of familial transmission in the present study strengthened the findings regarding the specificity of transmission of the anxiety disorders and the links between both parental substance abuse and antisocial personality with child conduct disorder.

(Accepted October 15 1997)

Key Words: Alcohol abuse; drug abuse; anxiety; family factors; risk factors.

Correspondence:

c1 Requests for reprints to: Kathleen R. Merikangas, Genetic Epidemiology Research Unit, Yale University School of Medicine, 40 Temple Street, New Haven, CT 06510, U.S.A. (E-mail: kathleen.merikangas@yale.edu).


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