Associations between pain intensity, psychosocial factors, and pain-related disability in 4285 patients with chronic pain.

Pain, a widespread challenge affecting daily life, is closely linked with psychological and social factors. While pain clearly influences daily function in those affected, the complete extent of its impact is not fully understood. Given the close connection between pain and psychosocial factors, a deeper exploration of these aspects is needed. In this study, we aim to examine the associations between psychosocial factors, pain intensity, and pain-related disability among patients with chronic pain. We used data on 4285 patients from the Oslo University Hospital Pain Registry, and investigated pain-related disability, pain intensity, pain catastrophizing, psychological distress, perceived injustice, insomnia, fatigue, and self-efficacy. We found significant associations between all psychosocial variables and pain-related disability, even after adjusting for demographic factors. In the multiple regression model, sleep problems and pain intensity were identified as primary contributors, alongside psychological distress, and fatigue. Combined, these factors accounted for 26.5% of the variability in pain-related disability, with insomnia and pain intensity exhibiting the strongest associations. While the direction of causation remains unclear, our findings emphasize the potential of interventions aimed at targeting psychosocial factors. Considering the strong link between psychosocial factors and pain-related disability, interventions targeting these factors-particularly insomnia-could reduce disability and enhance quality of life in those who suffer.

Genetic similarity between relatives provides evidence on the presence and history of assortative mating.

Assortative mating - the non-random mating of individuals with similar traits - is known to increase trait-specific genetic variance and genetic similarity between relatives. However, empirical evidence is limited for many traits, and the implications hinge on whether assortative mating has started recently or many generations ago. Here we show theoretically and empirically that genetic similarity between relatives can provide evidence on the presence and history of assortative mating. First, we employed path analysis to understand how assortative mating affects genetic similarity between family members across generations, finding that similarity between distant relatives is more affected than close relatives. Next, we correlated polygenic indices of 47,135 co-parents from the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) and found genetic evidence of assortative mating in nine out of sixteen examined traits. The same traits showed elevated similarity between relatives, especially distant relatives. Six of the nine traits, including educational attainment, showed greater genetic variance among offspring, which is inconsistent with stable assortative mating over many generations. These results suggest an ongoing increase in familial similarity for these traits. The implications of this research extend to genetic methodology and the understanding of social and economic disparities.

Intergenerational transmission of ADHD behaviors: genetic and environmental pathways.

BACKGROUND: We investigate if covariation between parental and child attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) behaviors can be explained by environmental and/or genetic transmission. METHODS: We employed a large children-of-twins-and-siblings sample (N = 22 276 parents and 11 566 8-year-old children) of the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study. This enabled us to disentangle intergenerational influences via parental genes and parental behaviors (i.e. genetic and environmental transmission, respectively). Fathers reported on their own symptoms and mothers on their own and their child's symptoms. RESULTS: Child ADHD behaviors correlated with their mother's (0.24) and father's (0.10) ADHD behaviors. These correlations were largely due to additive genetic transmission. Variation in children's ADHD behaviors was explained by genetic factors active in both generations (11%) and genetic factors specific to the children (46%), giving a total heritability of 57%. There were small effects of parental ADHD behaviors (2% environmental transmission) and gene-environment correlation (3%). The remaining variability in ADHD behaviors was due to individual-specific environmental factors. CONCLUSIONS: The intergenerational resemblance of ADHD behaviors is primarily due to genetic transmission, with little evidence for parental ADHD behaviors causing children's ADHD behaviors. This contradicts theories proposing environmental explanations of intergenerational transmission of ADHD, such as parenting theories or psychological life-history theory.

Non-random Mating Patterns in Education, Mental, and Somatic Health: A Population Study on Within- and Cross-Trait Associations.

Partners resemble each other on many traits, such as health and education. The traits are usually studied one by one in data from established couples and with potential participation bias. We studied all Norwegian parents who had their first child between 2016 and 2020 (N=187,926) and the siblings of these parents. We analysed grade point averages (GPA), educational attainment (EA), and medical records with prospective diagnostic data on 10 mental and 10 somatic health conditions measured 10 to 5 years before childbirth. We found stronger partner similarity in mental (median r=0.14) than in somatic health conditions (median r=0.04), with ubiquitous cross-trait correlations for mental health conditions (median r=0.13). GPA correlated 0.43 and EA 0.47 between partners. High GPA or EA was associated with better mental (median r=-0.16) and somatic (median r=-0.08) health in partners. Elevated correlations for mental health (median r=0.25) in established couples indicated convergence. Analyses of data on siblings and in-laws revealed deviations from direct assortment, suggesting instead indirect assortment based on related traits. GPA and EA accounted for 30-40% of the partner correlations in health. This has implications for the distribution of risk factors among children and for studies of intergenerational transmission.

The association between parental internalizing disorders and child school performance.

Parents play a crucial role in children's lives. Despite high prevalences of anxiety and depression, we do not know how these disorders among parents associate with child school performance in Norway. We use regression models to estimate associations between parental mental disorders and child school performance, while adjusting for some social and genetic confounders. Parental anxiety and depression were assessed from administrative registers of government funded health service consultations for all individuals in Norway with children born between 1992 and 2002. School performance was assessed as standardized grade point average at the end of compulsory education when children are 16 years old. Associations were also considered in samples of adoptees and among differentially affected siblings. We find that 18.8% of children have a parent with an anxiety or depression diagnosis from primary care during the last three years of compulsory education (yearly prevalence: 11.5%). There is a negative association between these parental mental disorders and child school outcomes (z = 0.43). This association was weakened, but statistically significant among differentially exposed siblings (z = 0.04), while disappearing in adoptee children. Many children experience that their parents have anxiety or depression and receive a diagnosis from primary care. On average, these children have lower school performance. The association is attenuated when comparing differentially exposed siblings and disappears in adoptee children. These results have a poor fit with the hypothesis that parental internalizing is an influential causal factor in determining children's educational success.

Sweet spot in music-Is predictability preferred among persons with psychotic-like experiences or autistic traits?

People prefer music with an intermediate level of predictability; not so predictable as to be boring, yet not so unpredictable that it ceases to be music. This sweet spot for predictability varies due to differences in the perception of predictability. The symptoms of both psychosis and Autism Spectrum Disorder have been attributed to overestimation of uncertainty, which predicts a preference for predictable stimuli and environments. In a pre-registered study, we tested this prediction by investigating whether psychotic and autistic traits were associated with a higher preference for predictability in music. Participants from the general population were presented with twenty-nine pre-composed music excerpts, scored on their complexity by musical experts. A participant's preferred level of predictability corresponded to the peak of the inverted U-shaped curve between music complexity and liking (i.e., a Wundt curve). We found that the sweet spot for predictability did indeed vary between individuals. Contrary to predictions, we did not find support for these variations being associated with autistic and psychotic traits. The findings are discussed in the context of the Wundt curve and the use of naturalistic stimuli. We also provide recommendations for further exploration.

The ADHD deficit in school performance across sex and parental education: A prospective sibling-comparison register study of 344,152 Norwegian adolescents.

Background: Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is associated with impaired school performance, but the impact of ADHD may vary across sex, family background, and school subjects. By using prospective population-wide register data, we describe impairment in academic performance related to ADHD across different school subjects and investigate how this impairment differ across sex and parental education. Methods: We examined grades and Grade Point Averages (GPA) at age ∼16 among 344,152 Norwegian children born between 1997 and 2002. We linked grades with diagnoses from publicly funded general practitioners and with demographic information. Associations between ADHD diagnosed between age 10 and 16 and school performance were estimated with linear models, including sibling-models which control for unobserved variables shared within families. Results: Children with ADHD (4.0%) had -1.11 standard deviations lower GPAs compared to children without ADHD. This difference remained substantial after adjusting for demographic factors (-0.87), comorbid mental disorders (-0.82), early school performance (-0.54), and when comparing full siblings (-0.60). The relative ADHD deficit was 22% larger for girls than for boys and 39% larger for children with highly educated parents than for children of parents without completed high school, but the absolute deficit was smaller. Conclusion: The ADHD deficit in school performance was large and not easily attributable to other factors. Because the ADHD deficit was large in all school subjects, interventions should ideally address factors that affect school performance broadly, although targeting theoretical subjects specifically may be most effective given limited resources.