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Marital resemblance for obsessive–compulsive, anxious and depressive symptoms in a population-based sample

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2008

D. S. van Grootheest ,
S. M. van den Berg ,
D. C. Cath ,
G. Willemsen  and
D. I. Boomsma
D. S. van Grootheest*
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Department of Psychiatry, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
S. M. van den Berg
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Department of Veterinary Sciences, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
D. C. Cath
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
G. Willemsen
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
D. I. Boomsma
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
*
*Address for correspondence: D. S. van Grootheest, M.D., Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Department of Biological Psychology, Van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands. (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

Background

Resemblance between spouses can be due to phenotypic assortment, social homogamy and/or marital interaction. A significant degree of assortment can have consequences for the genetic architecture of a population. We examined the existence and cause(s) of assortment for obsessive–compulsive (OC), anxious and depressive symptoms in a population-based twin-family sample.

Method

OC, anxious and depressive symptoms were measured in around 1400 twin–spouse pairs and >850 parent pairs. Correlations of twins and their spouse, twin and co-twin's spouse, spouses of both twins and parents of twins were obtained to consider phenotypic assortment versus social homogamy as possible causes of marital resemblance. The association of length of relationship with marital resemblance was also investigated. Finally, we examined whether within-trait or cross-trait processes play a primarily role in marital resemblance.

Results

Small but significant within-trait correlations of between 0.1 and 0.2 were seen for spouse similarity in OC, anxious and depressive symptoms. Cross-correlations were significant but lower. There was no correlation between length of relationship and marital resemblance. From the pattern of correlations for twin–spouse, co-twin–spouse and spouses of both twins, phenotypic assortment could not be distinguished from social homogamy. Both within- and cross-assortment processes play a role in marital resemblance.

Conclusions

Small within- and across-trait correlations exist for OC, anxious and depressive symptoms. No evidence for marital interaction was found. Spouse correlations are small, which makes it difficult to distinguish between social homogamy and phenotypic assortment. It is unlikely that correlations of this size will have a large impact on genetic studies.

Keywords

Anxietyassortative matingdepressionmarital resemblanceOCD
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 38 , Issue 12 , December 2008 , pp. 1731 - 1740
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Cambridge University Press

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