B3219 - Applying causal inference methods to investigate the impact of adverse childhood experiences on psychopathology - 06/12/2018

B number: 
B3219
Principal applicant name: 
Jessie Baldwin | UCL
Co-applicants: 
Dr Jean-Baptiste Pingault
Title of project: 
Applying causal inference methods to investigate the impact of adverse childhood experiences on psychopathology
Proposal summary: 

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are major risk factors for psychopathology. For example, children exposed to abuse, neglect, and dysfunctional home environments have an elevated risk of several later psychiatric conditions. However, as highlighted by a new report by the UK Science and Technology Select Committee (November 2018), it is unclear whether ACEs cause psychopathology, or whether the associations reflect confounding by genetic and environmental factors. For instance, children exposed to some ACEs (e.g., family psychopathology or substance abuse) might inherit genetic risk of psychopathology from their parents. ACEs also often co-occur with other environmental risks for psychopathology, such as prenatal exposures (e.g., smoking, alcoholism, stress) and postnatal exposures (e.g., poverty). This study will use genetically-informative methods and statistical innovation to disentangle the effects of ACEs from these confounds, and in turn strengthen understanding about the potential causal effects of ACEs in psychopathology.

Impact of research: 
The findings from this study will inform understanding about the potential causal effects of ACEs on psychopathology, by using stringent causal inference methods (genetically-informative analyses and propensity score techniques) to account for confounders. This will in turn inform understanding about the expected impact of interventions targeting ACEs on the development of mental health problems. For example, if certain ACEs are not associated with psychopathology after accounting for confounders, then interventions targeting those ACEs would not affect rates of mental heath problems among young people. In contrast, if other ACEs have large effects on psychopathology after accounting for confounders, then preventing those ACEs could help prevent children from developing mental health problems. Although preventing all ACEs is a worthy goal in its own right, these findings can inform expectations about the impact of ACE interventions on mental health.
Date proposal received: 
Wednesday, 5 December, 2018
Date proposal approved: 
Thursday, 6 December, 2018
Keywords: 
Mental health - Psychology, Psychiatry, Cognition, Mental health, Statistical methods, Cohort studies - attrition, bias, participant engagement, ethics, Childhood - childcare, childhood adversity, Genetics, Genomics, Methods - e.g. cross cohort analysis, data mining, mendelian randomisation, etc., Parenting, Statistical methods