CHOOSE YOUR FRIENDS WISELY: THEIR GENES MAY AFFECT YOUR HEALTH, STUDY FINDS

Turns out your parent's advice about choosing high school friends wisely was spot on.

A new study has found that your friends' genetic traits can impact your own risk of developing mental health issues and substance use disorders.

The study published Wednesday in the American Journal of Psychiatry found that a peer's genetic predispositions for psychiatric and substance use disorders are linked with an individual's own risk of developing the same disorders in young adulthood.

"Certainly, this is something that as parents, when you think, 'Who is my kid affiliating with?' Those concerns are very valid," said Jessica Salvatore, lead author and associate professor of psychiatry at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, in New Brunswick, N.J.

"What we're showing here is that above and beyond our own genetic predispositions, the genetic makeup of the people we are surrounded by matters," she told Global News.

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It is known that genetic predispositions play a critical role in the etiology of common psychiatric conditions, including drug and alcohol use disorders, major depression, and anxiety disorder, the authors argue.

Previous research has shown that genetic traits can influence those around an individual, a phenomenon known as socio-genetics, where one's genes interact with and are shaped by their social environment. Building on this, the authors aimed to understand how the genetic predispositions of high school peers impact an individual's mental health and substance use outcomes.

To find this link, the authors partnered with Lund University in Sweden and used Swedish national data to assess peer social genetic effects for several psychiatric disorders.

With a database of more than 1.5 million individuals born in Sweden between 1980 and 1998, the authors first mapped individuals by location and school during their teenage years. They then used medical, pharmacy and legal registries documenting substance use and mental health disorders for the same individuals in adulthood.

Models were then used to determine if the genetic predispositions of peers could predict an individual’s risk of developing substance abuse, major depression and anxiety disorders in adulthood.

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While the study links peers' genetic predispositions to an individual's risk of mental health and substance use disorders, the reasons behind this connection need to be further explored, Salvatore said.

"That's exactly what the study sets up for, the next stage of work in this area is what are those mechanisms?" she said, adding there are theories at play.

For example, she said, a peer predisposed to drug and alcohol abuse might be more inclined toward risky and impulsive behaviour, like skipping school, even without using substances. These genetic tendencies can then influence their peers.

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"We're showing is that it's not just whether or not your peers are affected, but there's all these sorts of traits and behaviours that are likely influencing," Salvatore said.

High school is a critical period when teens are highly influenced by peers, she said. Since the genetic makeup of a high school peer group may impact an individual, prevention interventions might need to focus not just on individuals but also on entire groups.

"School-based interventions are probably the biggest bang for your buck because you're going to be addressing both individual-level risks, but you're also addressing the collective risk that any socializing unit of adolescence is going to be carrying," she said.

2024-08-07T07:11:11Z dg43tfdfdgfd