Abstract
There is a wealth of literature on the observed association between childhood trauma and psychotic illness. However, the relationship between childhood trauma and psychosis is complex and could be explained, in part, by gene-environment correlation. The association between schizophrenia polygenic scores (PGS) and experiencing childhood trauma was investigated using data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) and the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). Schizophrenia PGS were derived in each cohort for children, mothers, and fathers where genetic data were available. Measures of trauma exposure were derived based on data collected throughout childhood and adolescence (0-17 years; ALSPAC) and at age 8 years (MoBa). Within ALSPAC, we found a positive association between schizophrenia PGS and exposure to trauma across childhood and adolescence; effect sizes were consistent for both child or maternal PGS. We found evidence of an association between the schizophrenia PGS and the majority of trauma subtypes investigated, with the exception of bullying. These results were comparable with those of MoBa. Within ALSPAC, genetic liability to a range of additional psychiatric traits was also associated with a greater trauma exposure. Results from two international birth cohorts indicate that genetic liability for a range of psychiatric traits is associated with experiencing childhood trauma. Genome-wide association study of psychiatric phenotypes may also reflect risk factors for these phenotypes. Our findings also suggest that youth at higher genetic risk might require greater resources/support to ensure they grow-up in a healthy environment.
Highlights
There is a wealth of literature from observational studies showing an association between childhood trauma and psychotic illness
Within Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) and across polygenic scores (PGS) scores derived based on child and mother data, we found evidence of an association between the schizophrenia PGS0.05 and increased exposure to childhood trauma at ages 0–4.9 years, 5–10.9 years and 11–17 years, as well as across childhood and adolescence [0–17 years: odds ratio (ORChild) 1.14, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.08–1.20, p = 8.4 × 10−6; ORMother 1.13, 95% CI 1.06–1.20, p = 8.5 × 10−5; Table 2]
When investigating the association between schizophrenia PGS0.05 and different types of trauma within ALSPAC, we found both maternal and child PGS0.05 were associated with most trauma subtypes (Table 3)
Summary
There is a wealth of literature from observational studies showing an association between childhood trauma and psychotic illness. It could be that parents with a genetic predisposition to psychosis may be more liable to behaviours that create an environment in which the child is subject to exposure to traumatic stress In this case, as for evocative and active gene–environment correlation, trauma would be a marker for genetic risk of psychosis, not necessarily a cause of psychosis We found evidence of an association between the schizophrenia PGS and the majority of trauma subtypes investigated, with the exception of bullying These results were comparable with those of MoBa. Within ALSPAC, genetic liability to a range of additional psychiatric traits was associated with a greater trauma exposure. Our findings suggest that youth at higher genetic risk might require greater resources/ support to ensure they grow-up in a healthy environment
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