Abstract
AbstractNeuroticism represents a personality disposition towards experiencing negative emotions more frequently and intensely. Longitudinal studies suggest that neuroticism increases risk of several psychological and physical problems. Improved understanding of how this trait manifests in early life could help inform preventative strategies in those liable to neuroticism.This study explored how a polygenic risk score (PRS) for neuroticism is expressed from infancy to late childhood across various psychological outcomes and how it associates with trajectories of internalising and externalising problems from ages 4-11 in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (N=5,279). We employed multivariable linear and ordinal regression models to estimate associations between a child neuroticism PRS and psychological outcomes. A three-level mixed-effect model was employed to characterise child internalising and externalising trajectories and estimate how a child PRS associated with both their overall levels and rates of change.We found evidence that the PRS for neuroticism was associated with a more sensitive temperament in early infancy in addition to higher emotional and behavioural problems and a higher risk of being diagnosed with a variety of clinical disorders, particularly anxiety disorders, in childhood. We also found strong evidence that the PRS for neuroticism was associated with overall levels of internalising and externalising trajectories, with a larger magnitude of effect on the internalising trajectory. The PRS was also associated with slower rates of reduction of internalising problems.Our findings using a large, well-characterised birth cohort study suggest that phenotypic manifestations of a PRS for adult neuroticism can be detected as early as in infancy and that this PRS associates with several mental health problems and differences in emotional trajectories across childhood.
Publisher
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory