Brian M D’onofrio
Biographic Data
| ID | 2909348 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Brian M D’onofrio |
| GIVEN NAMES | Brian M |
| FAMILY NAME | D’onofrio |
| SIGNATURE | D’ONOFRIO B M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Karolinska Institutet |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5248-7434 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 32 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 88 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 32 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1999 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Childhood Parental Psychiatric Hospitalization and Offspring Suicidal Behavior, Violent Crime, and Violent Victimization
Population-level studies consistently report associations between parental psychiatric disorders and violence-related outcomes in offspring, but it remains unclear whether these reflect causal effects of parental illness or shared familial vulnerabilities. Using Swedish national registers, we followed 2,978,645 individuals born 1975-2005 from age 15 until the first violence-related outcome, emigration, death, age 25, or end of 2020. We estimated …
Parental incarceration and psychiatric disorders, suicidal behavior, risk‐taking, and substance misuse events in offspring
BACKGROUND: Parental incarceration (PI) is associated with mental and behavioral problems in offspring, but causality remains unclear. We conducted a quasi-experimental within-individual study on the associations of PI with offspring psychiatric disorders, suicidal behavior, risk-taking, and substance misuse events, aiming to test the effect of PI on offspring. METHODS: The study included 43,011 and 5,912 individuals born in Sweden 1973-2010 and …
Predictors of preschool attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder diagnosis
BACKGROUND: The diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in preschool years (before age 6 years) is a marker of severity and poor prognosis. This study investigated a broad range of predictors of ADHD diagnosis during preschool age. METHODS: Population-based cohort study using Swedish registers. The final sample consisted of all children born in Sweden between 2001 and 2007 who could be linked to both of their biological paren…
Childhood and adolescence outcomes in offspring to parents with bipolar disorder
BACKGROUND: Offspring of parents with bipolar disorder have increased risks of their own psychopathology. However, a large-scale survey of psychiatric, somatic, and adverse social outcomes up to adulthood, which could aid in prioritizing and tailoring prevention, is lacking. It also remains to clarify how risks are modified by other parental factors. METHODS: Swedish population registers were linked to compare offspring having (N = 24,788) and no…
Health, behavior, and social outcomes among offspring of parents with criminal convictions
BACKGROUND: There is currently insufficient understanding of the health and behavior of children whose parents engage in criminal behavior. We examined associations between parental criminal convictions and wide range of offspring health, behavioral, and social outcomes by age 18 in a large, national sample, aiming to get a comprehensive picture of the risks among children of offending parents. METHODS: We studied 1,013,385 individuals born in Sw…
A twin study of genetic and environmental contributions to attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder over time
BACKGROUND: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is an increasingly commonly diagnosed neurodevelopmental condition. One possibility is that this reflects a genuine increase in the prevalence of ADHD due to secular environmental changes, yet this hypothesis remains untested. We therefore investigated whether the genetic and environmental variance underlying ADHD, and traits of ADHD, has changed over time. METHODS: We identified twins b…
Melatonin use and the risk of self‐harm and unintentional injuries in youths with and without psychiatric disorders
BACKGROUND: Sleep disorders in youth have been associated with increased risks of injury, including suicidal behavior. This study investigated whether melatonin, which is the most common medication for sleep disturbances in youth in Sweden, is associated with a decreased risk of injury. METHODS: This population-based cohort study included 25,575 youths who initiated melatonin treatment between ages 6 and 18. Poisson regression was used to estimat…
Adverse clinical outcomes among youths with nonsuicidal self‐injury and suicide attempts
BACKGROUND: More knowledge about risks of clinical outcomes associated with nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicide attempts (SAs) is needed to inform risk assessment and intervention. METHODS: Longitudinal cohort study based on 1,855 youths was clinically assessed for NSSI and SA, and followed up (from December, 2011 to December 2013) for the outcomes; diagnosed self-injury, alcohol/substance use disorder, and psychiatric inpatient care data …
Use of central nervous system drugs in combination with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor treatment
Several of the detected signals for reduced risk correspond to drugs where there is previous evidence of benefit for antidepressant augmentation (e.g., olanzapine, quetiapine, lithium, buspirone, and mirtazapine). Novel signals of reduced suicidal behavior risk, including for lamotrigine, valproic acid, risperidone, and melatonin, warrant further investigation
Adverse perinatal events and offspring criminal convictions in men and women
We examined associations of adverse perinatal events with offspring violent and non-violent criminal convictions in men and women. All singleton births between 1973 and 1995 (n = 1,146,570 men, n = 1,085,217 women) were identified through Swedish population-based registers. Information about adverse perinatal events was retrieved from the Medical Birth Register. Outcomes were criminal convictions collected from the National Crime Register. We est…
Parental substance misuse and reproductive timing in offspring
Parents with substance misuse provide their children with a potentially risky rearing environment. According to the evolutionary life history theory, such environments steer individuals towards faster reproductive strategy. However, parents providing their children with hazardous environments may also pass on genes associated with early parenthood. In register data on individuals born in Sweden 1973–1993 (N = 2,176,128), the hazard ratio of enter…
Familial and genetic associations between autism spectrum disorder and other neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders
Background Familial and genetic associations between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders have been reported, sometimes with conflicting results. We estimated familial and genetic associations between ASD and nine disorder groups, and explored differences in these associations for ASD in the context of intellectual disability, epilepsy, chromosomal abnormalities, and congenital malformations. Metho…
Sexual orientation and adolescent suicide attempt and self‐harm
Identifying as a sexual minority was associated with approximately 50% increased odds of SA/SH in adolescence after adjusting for unmeasured genetic and environmental factors shared by twins and for childhood psychopathology. The results support that environmental factors specifically associated with identifying as a sexual minority likely increase risk for SA/SH. Our findings highlight the need to monitor suicidality risk among this group
Trajectories of healthcare utilization and costs of psychiatric and somatic multimorbidity in adults with childhood ADHD
BACKGROUND: A better understanding of the trajectories and economic burden of psychiatric and somatic disorders (multimorbidity) in ADHD from childhood to adulthood is important for guiding more targeted areas for treatment of ADHD and prevention of multimorbidity, and for forecasting demands on the medical infrastructure. This study aimed to investigate patterns of healthcare utilization and costs of multimorbidity across young adulthood in indi…
Volitional eye movement control and ADHD traits
BACKGROUND: Top-down volitional command of eye movements may serve as a candidate endophenotype of ADHD, an important function underlying goal-directed action in everyday life. In this twin study, we examined the relation between performance on a response inhibition eye-tracking paradigm and parent-rated ADHD traits in a population-based twin sample. We hypothesized that altered eye movement control is associated with the severity of ADHD traits …
Preconception Maternal Bereavement and Infant and Childhood Mortality
OBJECTIVES: Preconception maternal bereavement may be associated with an increased risk for infant mortality, although these previously reported findings have not been replicated. We sought to examine if the association could be replicated and explore if risk extended into childhood. METHODS: Using a Danish population-based sample of offspring born 1979 to 2009 (N = 1,865,454), we analyzed neonatal (0-28 days), postneonatal infant (29-364 days), …
Child-informed mediation study follow-up
Clarifying the Associations between Age at Menarche and Adolescent Emotional and Behavioral Problems
A randomized controlled trial of child-informed mediation
With over 1 million children in the United States affected by parental divorce or separation each year, there is interest in interventions to mitigate the potential negative consequences of divorce on children. Family mediation has been widely heralded as a better solution than litigation; however, mediation does not work for all families. One proposed improvement involves bringing the child's perspective to mediation, to motivate parents to crea…
Critical Need for Family-Based, Quasi-Experimental Designs in Integrating Genetic and Social Science Research
Researchers have identified environmental risks that predict subsequent psychological and medical problems. Based on these correlational findings, researchers have developed and tested complex developmental models and have examined biological moderating factors (e.g., gene–environment interactions). In this context, we stress the critical need for researchers to use family-based, quasi-experimental designs when trying to integrate genetic and soc…
Teenage childbirth and young adult criminal convictions
Testing Putative Causal Associations of Risk Factors for Early Intercourse in the Study of Twin Adults
Adverse childhood experiences and substance use have been identified as potential causal risk factors for early-onset sexual intercourse. While it is possible that exposure to these risk factors directly increases the likelihood of engaging in early intercourse, an alternative explanation is that observed associations between these variables are due to shared familial confounds. These unmeasured confounds may increase the likelihood of being expo…
Timing of Prenatal Maternal Exposure to Severe Life Events and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes
OBJECTIVE: To identify the impact of timing of prenatal stress exposure on offspring risk for shortened gestational age, preterm birth (PTB), low birth weight (LBW), and small for gestational age (SGA), using a population-based sample. METHODS: Swedish longitudinal population registries were linked to study all individuals born in Sweden from 1973 to 2004. Prenatal maternal stress exposure was defined as death of the father of the child or first-…
A genetically informed study of associations between family functioning and child psychosocial adjustment
Research has documented associations between family functioning and offspring psychosocial adjustment, but questions remain regarding whether these associations are partly due to confounding genetic factors and other environmental factors. The current study used a genetically informed approach, the Children of Twins design, to explore the associations between family functioning (family conflict, marital quality, and agreement about parenting) and…
Biosocial Influences on the Family
The past decade brought a remarkable increase in the number and quality of biosocial studies of family processes. The current review summarizes recent advances in biosocial family research by providing key exemplars of emerging research paradigms. Research in the past decade has substantiated the claim in the previous Decade Review ( Booth, Carver, & Granger, 2000 ) that bidirectional influences between all levels of analysis are paramount. There…
A genetically informed study of the processes underlying the association between parental marital instability and offspring adjustment
Parental divorce is associated with problematic offspring adjustment, but the relation may be due to shared genetic or environmental factors. One way to test for these confounds is to study offspring of twins discordant for divorce. The current analyses used this design to separate the mechanisms responsible for the association between parental divorce, experienced either before or after the age of 16, and offspring well-being. The results were c…
Family structure and age at menarche
Girls who grow up in households with an unrelated adult male reach menarche earlier than peers, a finding hypothesized to be an evolutionary strategy for families under stress. The authors tested the alternative hypothesis that nonrandom selection into stepfathering due to shared environmental and/or genetic predispositions creates a spurious relation between stepfathering and early menarche. Using the unique controls for genetic and shared envir…
Critical Need for Family-Based, Quasi-Experimental Designs in Integrating Genetic and Social Science Research
Researchers have identified environmental risks that predict subsequent psychological and medical problems. Based on these correlational findings, researchers have developed and tested complex developmental models and have examined biological moderating factors (e.g., gene–environment interactions). In this context, we stress the critical need for researchers to use family-based, quasi-experimental designs when trying to integrate genetic and soc…
A Genetically Informed Study of the Intergenerational Transmission of Marital Instability
Environmental or genetic influences, or both could account for the increased risk of divorce among the offspring of separated parents. Previous studies have used covariates to statistically control for confounds, but the present research is the first genetically informed study of the topic. The investigation used the Children of Twins Design with twins, their spouses, and their young adult offspring (n = 2,310) from the Australian Twin Registry t…
Testing different types of genotype-environment correlation
This study presents an extended children-of-twins model, which allowed the authors to test the direction of the association between parenting and child adjustment. Three mechanisms were examined: direct phenotypic influence of parenting on child behavior (controlling for both parental and child genotype), passive genotype-environment correlation, and evocative genotype-environment correlation. This model was tested with Monte Carlo simulations. T…
Child-informed mediation study follow-up
A genetically informed study of associations between family functioning and child psychosocial adjustment
Research has documented associations between family functioning and offspring psychosocial adjustment, but questions remain regarding whether these associations are partly due to confounding genetic factors and other environmental factors. The current study used a genetically informed approach, the Children of Twins design, to explore the associations between family functioning (family conflict, marital quality, and agreement about parenting) and…
Child Informed Mediation Study (Cims)
Children experiencing parental separation may benefit from forms of mediation that systematically help parents consider the needs and best interests of their children. Child Focused (CF) and Child Inclusive (CI) mediation approaches were designed to meet this need and thus may offer effective means to improve the impact of mediation on families. An initial study in Australia provided evidence of the positive effects of CF and CI and favored CI ov…
Adverse perinatal events and offspring criminal convictions in men and women
We examined associations of adverse perinatal events with offspring violent and non-violent criminal convictions in men and women. All singleton births between 1973 and 1995 (n = 1,146,570 men, n = 1,085,217 women) were identified through Swedish population-based registers. Information about adverse perinatal events was retrieved from the Medical Birth Register. Outcomes were criminal convictions collected from the National Crime Register. We est…
Clarifying the Associations between Age at Menarche and Adolescent Emotional and Behavioral Problems
Teenage childbirth and young adult criminal convictions
A randomized controlled trial of child-informed mediation
With over 1 million children in the United States affected by parental divorce or separation each year, there is interest in interventions to mitigate the potential negative consequences of divorce on children. Family mediation has been widely heralded as a better solution than litigation; however, mediation does not work for all families. One proposed improvement involves bringing the child's perspective to mediation, to motivate parents to crea…
Testing Putative Causal Associations of Risk Factors for Early Intercourse in the Study of Twin Adults
Adverse childhood experiences and substance use have been identified as potential causal risk factors for early-onset sexual intercourse. While it is possible that exposure to these risk factors directly increases the likelihood of engaging in early intercourse, an alternative explanation is that observed associations between these variables are due to shared familial confounds. These unmeasured confounds may increase the likelihood of being expo…
Understanding Biological and Social Influences on Religious Affiliation, Attitudes, and Behaviors
Although the transmission of religiousness has been assumed to be purely cultural, behavior genetic studies have demonstrated that genetic factors play a role in the individual differences in some religious traits. This article reviews the extant behavior genetic literature and presents new analyses from the “Virginia 30,000” on the causes of variation in religious affiliation, attitudes, and practices, and relates these to personality as constru…
Socioeconomic Status Modifies Heritability of IQ in Young Children
Scores on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children were analyzed in a sample of 7-year-old twins from the National Collaborative Perinatal Project. A substantial proportion of the twins were raised in families living near or below the poverty level. Biometric analyses were conducted using models allowing for components attributable to the additive effects of genotype, shared environment, and non-shared environment to interact with socioeconom…
Family structure and age at menarche
Girls who grow up in households with an unrelated adult male reach menarche earlier than peers, a finding hypothesized to be an evolutionary strategy for families under stress. The authors tested the alternative hypothesis that nonrandom selection into stepfathering due to shared environmental and/or genetic predispositions creates a spurious relation between stepfathering and early menarche. Using the unique controls for genetic and shared envir…
A genetically informed study of the processes underlying the association between parental marital instability and offspring adjustment
Parental divorce is associated with problematic offspring adjustment, but the relation may be due to shared genetic or environmental factors. One way to test for these confounds is to study offspring of twins discordant for divorce. The current analyses used this design to separate the mechanisms responsible for the association between parental divorce, experienced either before or after the age of 16, and offspring well-being. The results were c…
A Genetically Informed Study of the Intergenerational Transmission of Marital Instability
Environmental or genetic influences, or both could account for the increased risk of divorce among the offspring of separated parents. Previous studies have used covariates to statistically control for confounds, but the present research is the first genetically informed study of the topic. The investigation used the Children of Twins Design with twins, their spouses, and their young adult offspring (n = 2,310) from the Australian Twin Registry t…
Testing different types of genotype-environment correlation
This study presents an extended children-of-twins model, which allowed the authors to test the direction of the association between parenting and child adjustment. Three mechanisms were examined: direct phenotypic influence of parenting on child behavior (controlling for both parental and child genotype), passive genotype-environment correlation, and evocative genotype-environment correlation. This model was tested with Monte Carlo simulations. T…
Biosocial Influences on the Family
The past decade brought a remarkable increase in the number and quality of biosocial studies of family processes. The current review summarizes recent advances in biosocial family research by providing key exemplars of emerging research paradigms. Research in the past decade has substantiated the claim in the previous Decade Review ( Booth, Carver, & Granger, 2000 ) that bidirectional influences between all levels of analysis are paramount. There…
Child Informed Mediation Study (Cims)
Children experiencing parental separation may benefit from forms of mediation that systematically help parents consider the needs and best interests of their children. Child Focused (CF) and Child Inclusive (CI) mediation approaches were designed to meet this need and thus may offer effective means to improve the impact of mediation on families. An initial study in Australia provided evidence of the positive effects of CF and CI and favored CI ov…
Timing of Prenatal Maternal Exposure to Severe Life Events and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes
OBJECTIVE: To identify the impact of timing of prenatal stress exposure on offspring risk for shortened gestational age, preterm birth (PTB), low birth weight (LBW), and small for gestational age (SGA), using a population-based sample. METHODS: Swedish longitudinal population registries were linked to study all individuals born in Sweden from 1973 to 2004. Prenatal maternal stress exposure was defined as death of the father of the child or first-…
A genetically informed study of associations between family functioning and child psychosocial adjustment
Research has documented associations between family functioning and offspring psychosocial adjustment, but questions remain regarding whether these associations are partly due to confounding genetic factors and other environmental factors. The current study used a genetically informed approach, the Children of Twins design, to explore the associations between family functioning (family conflict, marital quality, and agreement about parenting) and…
A randomized controlled trial of child-informed mediation
With over 1 million children in the United States affected by parental divorce or separation each year, there is interest in interventions to mitigate the potential negative consequences of divorce on children. Family mediation has been widely heralded as a better solution than litigation; however, mediation does not work for all families. One proposed improvement involves bringing the child's perspective to mediation, to motivate parents to crea…
Critical Need for Family-Based, Quasi-Experimental Designs in Integrating Genetic and Social Science Research
Researchers have identified environmental risks that predict subsequent psychological and medical problems. Based on these correlational findings, researchers have developed and tested complex developmental models and have examined biological moderating factors (e.g., gene–environment interactions). In this context, we stress the critical need for researchers to use family-based, quasi-experimental designs when trying to integrate genetic and soc…
Teenage childbirth and young adult criminal convictions
Testing Putative Causal Associations of Risk Factors for Early Intercourse in the Study of Twin Adults
Adverse childhood experiences and substance use have been identified as potential causal risk factors for early-onset sexual intercourse. While it is possible that exposure to these risk factors directly increases the likelihood of engaging in early intercourse, an alternative explanation is that observed associations between these variables are due to shared familial confounds. These unmeasured confounds may increase the likelihood of being expo…
Preconception Maternal Bereavement and Infant and Childhood Mortality
OBJECTIVES: Preconception maternal bereavement may be associated with an increased risk for infant mortality, although these previously reported findings have not been replicated. We sought to examine if the association could be replicated and explore if risk extended into childhood. METHODS: Using a Danish population-based sample of offspring born 1979 to 2009 (N = 1,865,454), we analyzed neonatal (0-28 days), postneonatal infant (29-364 days), …
Child-informed mediation study follow-up
Clarifying the Associations between Age at Menarche and Adolescent Emotional and Behavioral Problems
Trajectories of healthcare utilization and costs of psychiatric and somatic multimorbidity in adults with childhood ADHD
BACKGROUND: A better understanding of the trajectories and economic burden of psychiatric and somatic disorders (multimorbidity) in ADHD from childhood to adulthood is important for guiding more targeted areas for treatment of ADHD and prevention of multimorbidity, and for forecasting demands on the medical infrastructure. This study aimed to investigate patterns of healthcare utilization and costs of multimorbidity across young adulthood in indi…
Volitional eye movement control and ADHD traits
BACKGROUND: Top-down volitional command of eye movements may serve as a candidate endophenotype of ADHD, an important function underlying goal-directed action in everyday life. In this twin study, we examined the relation between performance on a response inhibition eye-tracking paradigm and parent-rated ADHD traits in a population-based twin sample. We hypothesized that altered eye movement control is associated with the severity of ADHD traits …
Parental substance misuse and reproductive timing in offspring
Parents with substance misuse provide their children with a potentially risky rearing environment. According to the evolutionary life history theory, such environments steer individuals towards faster reproductive strategy. However, parents providing their children with hazardous environments may also pass on genes associated with early parenthood. In register data on individuals born in Sweden 1973–1993 (N = 2,176,128), the hazard ratio of enter…
Familial and genetic associations between autism spectrum disorder and other neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders
Background Familial and genetic associations between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders have been reported, sometimes with conflicting results. We estimated familial and genetic associations between ASD and nine disorder groups, and explored differences in these associations for ASD in the context of intellectual disability, epilepsy, chromosomal abnormalities, and congenital malformations. Metho…
Sexual orientation and adolescent suicide attempt and self‐harm
Identifying as a sexual minority was associated with approximately 50% increased odds of SA/SH in adolescence after adjusting for unmeasured genetic and environmental factors shared by twins and for childhood psychopathology. The results support that environmental factors specifically associated with identifying as a sexual minority likely increase risk for SA/SH. Our findings highlight the need to monitor suicidality risk among this group
Adverse clinical outcomes among youths with nonsuicidal self‐injury and suicide attempts
BACKGROUND: More knowledge about risks of clinical outcomes associated with nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicide attempts (SAs) is needed to inform risk assessment and intervention. METHODS: Longitudinal cohort study based on 1,855 youths was clinically assessed for NSSI and SA, and followed up (from December, 2011 to December 2013) for the outcomes; diagnosed self-injury, alcohol/substance use disorder, and psychiatric inpatient care data …
Use of central nervous system drugs in combination with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor treatment
Several of the detected signals for reduced risk correspond to drugs where there is previous evidence of benefit for antidepressant augmentation (e.g., olanzapine, quetiapine, lithium, buspirone, and mirtazapine). Novel signals of reduced suicidal behavior risk, including for lamotrigine, valproic acid, risperidone, and melatonin, warrant further investigation
Adverse perinatal events and offspring criminal convictions in men and women
We examined associations of adverse perinatal events with offspring violent and non-violent criminal convictions in men and women. All singleton births between 1973 and 1995 (n = 1,146,570 men, n = 1,085,217 women) were identified through Swedish population-based registers. Information about adverse perinatal events was retrieved from the Medical Birth Register. Outcomes were criminal convictions collected from the National Crime Register. We est…
Psychology (26 works) · Developmental psychology (16 works) · Medicine (15 works) · Psychiatry (15 works) · Population (10 works) · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development (9 works) · Demography (9 works) · Genetics (8 works) · Genetics (8 works) · Offspring (8 works)