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Parent-Offspring Transmission of Internalizing and Sensory over-Responsivity Symptoms in Adolescence

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Abstract

Reactions to sensory experiences are an overlooked correlate of affective regulation, despite the importance of bodily states on psychological processes. Children who display sensory over-responsivity (i.e., adverse reactions to typical sensations) are at greater risk for developing affective disorders. We extended this literature to adolescents and their middle-aged parents. Participants in a birth record-based study of families of adolescent twins (N = 506 families; 1012 adolescents; 53% female) completed a subset of items from the Adult Sensory Profile. We derived adolescent self-reported internalizing disorder symptoms and parent affective diagnoses from structured diagnostic interviews. Structural equation models tested the relationship between parent sensory over-responsivity symptoms and affective diagnoses and their adolescent offspring’s sensory over-responsivity and internalizing symptoms. Adolescent sensory over-responsivity symptoms were correlated with internalizing disorder symptoms. Parents with a diagnosis of anxiety or depression (mothers only) reported more frequent SOR symptoms than parents without a diagnosis. Parent depression was significantly related to adolescent sensory over-responsivity symptoms, over and above parent sensory over-responsivity symptoms (β = 0.26, p < 0.001 for mothers; β = 0.13, p = 0.004 for fathers). Father alcohol abuse/dependency also predicted offspring sensory over-responsivity symptoms. Offspring of parents with affective disorders were at additional risk for sensory dysregulation via parents’ influence on offspring internalizing problems.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Highland Ave, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Carol A. Van Hulle & H. Hill Goldsmith

  2. Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Kathryn Lemery-Chalfant

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    H. Hill Goldsmith

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  1. Carol A. Van Hulle
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Correspondence to Carol A. Van Hulle.

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Van Hulle, C.A., Lemery-Chalfant, K. & Hill Goldsmith, H. Parent-Offspring Transmission of Internalizing and Sensory over-Responsivity Symptoms in Adolescence. J Abnorm Child Psychol 46, 557–567 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-017-0300-y

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