Weighing psychosocial factors in relatives for the risk of depressive and anxious psychopathology: A sibling-pair comparison study

Purpose Siblings of probands with depressive and anxiety disorders are at increased risk for psychopathology, but little is known about how risk factors operate within families to increase psychopathology for siblings. We examined the additional impact of psychosocial risk factors in probands – on top of or in combination with those in siblings – on depressive/anxious psychopathology in siblings. Methods The sample included 636 participants ( M age= 49.7; 62.4% female) from 256 families, each including a proband with lifetime depressive and/or anxiety disorders and their sibling(s) ( N =380 proband-sibling pairs). Sixteen psychosocial risk factors were tested. In siblings, depressive and anxiety disorders were determined with standardized psychiatric interviews; symptom severity was measured using self-report questionnaires. Analyses were performed with mixed-effects models accounting for familial structure. Results In siblings, various psychosocial risk factors (female gender, low income, childhood trauma, poor parental bonding, being single, smoking, hazardous alcohol use) were associated with higher symptomatology and likelihood of disorder. The presence of the same risk factor in probands was independently associated (low income, being single) with higher symptomatology in siblings or moderated (low education, childhood trauma, hazardous alcohol use) – by reducing its strength – the association between the risk factor and symptomatology in siblings. There was no additional impact of risk factors in probands on likelihood of disorder in siblings. Conclusion Our findings demonstrate the importance of weighing psychosocial risk factors within a family context, as it may provide relevant information on the risk of affective psychopathology for individuals. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement The Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA) is funded through the Geestkracht program of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research and Development (ZonMw, grant number 10-000-1002) and financial contributions by participating universities and mental health care organizations (Amsterdam University Medical - Vrije Universiteit VU, GGZ ingeest, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden University, GGZ Rivierduinen, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Lentis, GGZ Friesland, GGZ Drenthe, Rob Giel Onderzoekscentrum). ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: The NESDA research protocol was approved centrally by the Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam University Medical Centre ethics committee and locally by the ethics committee of participating universities. I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable. Yes The data that support the findings of this study are available via the website of NESDA (), which will be provided after handing in a data request. This paper was pre-registered on the Open Science Framework; here, the R code for the analyses can be found as well ().