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Causes and consequences of mental disorders: The environmental and genetic influences of parents on offspring.

Award Number: R01MH130448
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 07/15/2022
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 05/31/2027

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Causes and consequences of mental disorders: The environmental and genetic influences of parents on offspring. - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Offspring resemble their parents on nearly every trait investigated but understanding the causes of this similarity has proven challenging. Traditional genetically informative approaches, such as adoption and extended twin family designs, have proven valuable in helping to disentangle the genetic and environmental causes for parents-offspring similarity, but the validity of their results rest upon strong assumptions about the reasons for covariance among relatives and they require data that is difficult to obtain and typically proprietary. Here, we introduce a genetically informative design, SEMPGS, that uses polygenic scores to estimate the total variation in offspring traits that is due to vertical transmission (VT), which occurs when a parental trait directly influences an offspring trait via the offspring’s rearing environment. This estimate of VT is based on observable genetic data and does not depend on strong assumptions about the causes of relative covariances. SEMPGS can utilize existing publicly available biobank and cohort data, greatly expanding the range of data sources available to answer questions about parent-offspring resemblance. Here, we propose to extend and refine the SEMPGS approach in ways that will make its results more accurate and that can provide novel insights into parental influences on offspring. These developments include testing and accounting for mechanisms of assortative mating, testing whether VT differs depending on the sex of the parent and/or offspring, designing multivariate models that assess whether a parental trait influences different offspring trait(s), and developing approaches for testing which specific parental behaviors underlie observations of VT. We will use existing and proposed SEMPGS models in three large datasets totaling ~61.5K trios, 62K parent-offspring duos, ~39K siblings and ~141K spousal pairs to explore the role of VT on offspring mental health. Our studies will elucidate the mechanisms by which parental traits influence symptoms of depression and attentional deficits in offspring, and they will also elucidate the consequences that parental depression has on their offspring’s physical and mental well-being. Moreover, by investigating the correlations of polygenic scores across spouses, our studies will help clarify the causes of spousal similarity across multiple traits. By project’s end, we anticipate having tools that provide researchers with a new way to disentangle the causes of parent-offspring resemblance, allowing for a clearer understanding of the causes and consequences of mental disorders and other complex traits.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $728,758 )
2025	2025	THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO	3100 MARINE ST	BOULDER	CO	80309	BOULDER	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	4	7/10/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$728,758
														Subtotal = $728,758

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $732,258 )
2024	2024	THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO	3100 MARINE ST	BOULDER	CO	80309	BOULDER	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	3	6/11/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$732,258
														Subtotal = $732,258

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $734,588 )
2023	2023	REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, THE	3100 MARINE ST STE 481 572 UCB	BOULDER	CO	80309	BOULDER	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	001	2	5/17/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$734,588
2023	2022	REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, THE	3100 MARINE ST STE 481 572 UCB	BOULDER	CO	80309	BOULDER	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	1	2/10/2023	NEW	$0
														Subtotal = $734,588

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $766,480 )
2022	2022	REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, THE	3100 MARINE ST STE 481 572 UCB	BOULDER	CO	80309	BOULDER	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	1	7/13/2022	NEW	$766,480
														Subtotal = $766,480

Grand Total All Awards = $2,962,084

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Causes and consequences of mental disorders: The environmental and genetic influences of parents on offspring.

Award Number: R01MH130448

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 07/15/2022

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 05/31/2027

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