Clinical trial NCT05716412: Gene-environment Interactions in Families With Adolescents (Gen-omgevingsinteracties in Gezinnen Met Adolescenten)
Official title: Personality and Vulnerability for Affective Spectrum Disorders and Complaints: The Role of Gene-Environment Correlations (rGE) and Interactions (GxE)
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Affective Spectrum Symptoms
Lead sponsor: Universitaire Ziekenhuizen KU Leuven
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Fund for Scientific Research, Flanders, Belgium
First posted: 2023-02-08
Enrollment: 1326
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 12
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Observational model: FAMILY_BASED
Time perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Adopted adolescents and their parents, adolescents with their biological parents, and an additional community sample.

Brief summary: English:

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the developmental trajectories of parents and adolescents in the Flemish region of Belgium. The investigators will focus on the role of genetic factors, environmental factors (e.g. parental rearing styles), and the interaction between these factors. Specifically, it will be investigated were difficulties or strengths in the development of adolescents can be attributed to. How an individual's genetic characteristics and his/her family environment can interact, will also be monitored. This study is closely related to the Leuvense Adoption Study (http://leuvenseadoptiestudie.be/). Just like this research, the investigators will take child and parent factors in account, as well as their interaction. The investigators will not only focus on vulnerability, but also on protective factors that can give resilience to both parents and children. The theoretical framework of this study is twofold. (1) In the development of children, genes and environment are interwoven in a dynamical relation. Neither genes or environment alone can explain how a child will develop over time. (2) The relation between genetic and environmental factors can be expressed in different ways. On the one hand, a certain genetic contribution can impact the way parents will uphold a certain parental rearing style. On the other hand, having certain genetic characteristics will have consequences for how adolescents will react to their environment. For example, a certain parental rearing style will strengthen some adolescents resilience, but for other adolescents this could equally lead to a more maladaptive development. Thus, depending on his or her genetic endowment, a child will develop differently given a certain family environment.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Adolescents adopted before the age of one and currently 12 to 18 years old (from international adoption) and their adoptive parents
* Matched community sample of adolescents between the age of 12 and 18 years old and their biological related parents

Exclusion Criteria:

* Major medical or psychiatric disease

Primary outcomes:
measure: Beck's Depression Inventory / Children's Depression Inventory
timeFrame: current symptoms, measured once after enrollment
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Somatic Symptoms Questionnaire
timeFrame: current complaints, measured once after enrollment
measure: Depressive Experiences Questionnaire: self-criticism and dependency
timeFrame: measured once after enrollment
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Gent
country: Belgium
facility: University of Gent - Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences - Department of Developmental-, Personality- and Social Psychology
state: Oost-Vlaanderen
city: Leuven
country: Belgium
facility: KU Leuven - Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences - Clinical Psychology Research Unit
state: Vlaams-Brabant
Study officials:
affiliation: KU Leuven - Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences - Clinical Psychology Research Unit
name: Patrick Luyten, Prof. Dr.
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: