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Genetic Correlates of Psychological Responses to the COVID-19 Crisis in Young Adult Twins in Great Britain.

ABSTRACT: We investigated how the COVID-19 crisis and the extraordinary experience of lockdown affected young adults in England and Wales psychologically. One month after lockdown commenced (T2), we assessed 30 psychological and behavioural traits in more than 4000 twins in their mid-twenties and compared their responses to the same traits assessed in 2018 (T1). Mean changes from T1 to T2 were modest and inconsistent. Contrary to the hypothesis that major environmental changes related to COVID-19 would result in increased variance in psychological and behavioural traits, we found that the magnitude of individual differences did not change from T1 to T2. Twin analyses revealed that while genetic factors accounted for about half of the reliable variance at T1 and T2, they only accounted for ~ 15% of individual differences in change from T1 to T2, and that nonshared environmental factors played a major role in psychological and behavioural changes. Shared environmental influences had negligible impact on T1, T2 or T2 change. Genetic factors correlated on average .86 between T1 and T2 and accounted for over half of the phenotypic stability, as would be expected for a 2-year interval even without the major disruption of lockdown. We conclude that the first month of lockdown has not resulted in major psychological or attitudinal shifts in young adults, nor in major changes in the genetic and environmental origins of these traits. Genetic influences on the modest psychological and behavioural changes are likely to be the result of gene-environment correlation not interaction.

SUBMITTER: Rimfeld K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7902241 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundSuicide rates in young people have increased in England and Wales since 2010. There are a range of possible explanations for this increase, and problem gambling has been suggested as a potential risk factor. We aimed to examine the association between suicidality (suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts) and problem gambling specifically for young adults in Great Britain, where gambling has become more widely available and normalised in the past two decades.MethodsWe analysed data from the Emerging Adults Gambling Survey: a cross-sectional, online, non-probability sample survey of young adults aged 16-24 years living in Great Britain, who were selected from a YouGov online panel. Participants were eligible if they had not taken part in any other YouGov survey on gambling in the past year. We examined associations between problem gambling (defined as a score of 8 or higher on the Problem Gambling Severity Index [PGSI]) and suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts in the year before survey completion in a series of regression models, with and without adjustment for sociodemographic factors, alcohol use, video gaming, anxiety, loneliness, and impulsivity.Findings3549 eligible participants completed the survey between June 25 and Aug 16, 2019. 24 (37·0% [95% CI 25·6-50·2]) of 62 men who had attempted suicide in the past year had survey scores that were indicative of problem gambling, compared with 38 (3·6% [2·6-5·0]) of 1077 men who had not attempted suicide or had suicidal thoughts in the past year. 13 (14·5% [8·5-23·6]) of 85 women who had attempted suicide in the past year had survey scores that were indicative of problem gambling, compared with 25 (2·0% [1·4-3·0]) of 1184 women who had not attempted suicide or had suicidal thoughts in the past year. The adjusted odds ratio for attempted suicide was 9·0 (4·1-19·7) in men with scores that indicated problem gambling and 4·9 (2·0-12·0) in women with scores that indicated problem gambling, compared with participants of the same gender with PGSI scores of 0.InterpretationProblem gambling appears to be associated with suicide attempts in both young men and young women. This association persisted after adjusting for anxiety, impulsivity, life satisfaction, and other factors, which suggests that other mechanisms, such as the severity and multiplicity of harms experienced, or gambling to cope with life stressors, might underpin this relationship. Young people with problem-gambling behaviours should be considered at risk for suicidality.FundingWellcome Trust.

Project description:BackgroundPrevious research has shown that young adults are more hesitant/resistant to COVID-19 vaccine uptake than older age groups, although the factors underlying this tendency are still under debate. The current study aimed to identify the sociodemographic and psychological correlates of vaccine hesitancy and resistance among young adults (18-40 years) during the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Italy, the first country after China being hit by the pandemic and which suffered a large number of fatalities.MethodsThis is a cross-sectional, web-based study conducted in Italy using an ISO-certified international survey company (respondi.com). Data were collected on 1200 participants in June 2021.ResultsVaccine hesitancy/resistance was found for 25% of the sample. In multinomial logistic regression (N = 1159), being aged 30-40 years, residing in northern Italy, having lower educational and income level, being unemployed, and not knowing any friends/relatives diagnosed with COVID-19 were associated with higher odds of hesitancy or resistance. In multivariate analysis of variance (N = 1177), both vaccine hesitant and resistant young adults perceived significantly less social support from friends and family than vaccine accepting ones. Resistant individuals reported significantly higher levels of conspiracy theories and negative attitudes toward vaccines than their accepting and hesitant counterparts. Moreover, resistant individuals reported significantly lower levels of attachment to country and perceptions of a just government compared to accepting ones, with hesitant young adults scoring in between.ConclusionsOur findings support the idea that young adults with a hesitant (vs. resistant) attitude show a more nuanced and less extreme psychological profile. Public health messaging should capitalize on social media to provide accessible, transparent, and age-appropriate information concerning COVID-19 vaccine safety. Moreover, policy efforts improving the availability of social support systems are warranted to strengthen connectedness and foster trust in institutions amongst this particular segment of the population.

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Genetic Correlates of Psychological Responses to the COVID-19 Crisis in Young Adult Twins in Great Britain.

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