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Abstract The purpose of the study is to examine the association between parental mental disorders diagnosed before age six and cognitive ability at age 18, using data from a population-based cohort of male adolescents attending military conscription. Further, we tested whether other childhood adversities modified this association. All males born in Denmark 1996–2001 were linked to national registers. Parental mental disorders were identified from psychiatric hospital diagnoses. We assessed other childhood adversities before age six, including family health-related, socioeconomic, and family instability, as well as the number of adversities experienced. Cognitive scores from the mandatory military conscription were standardized (mean 100, SD = 15). Associations were estimated using multiple linear regression, and effect modification was evaluated using Wald tests. We included 125,791 males (mean age 18 years, SD = 0.66), of whom 6708 had a parent with a mental disorder. Parental mental disorders were associated with a 0.91-point reduced cognitive ability score (95% confidence interval − 1.3, − 0.53). This association was not observed in adolescents who lived with only one parent (− 0.35 (− 0.85, 0.15)), those placed in out-of-home care (3.2 (0.59, 5.8)), and those with ≥ 3 additional adversities before age six. Effect modification tests were statistically significant for these groups ( p 2 additional adversities, those who lived with only one parent, or those placed in out-of-home care before age six, suggesting the association varies across family context .
Petersen et al. (Thu,) studied this question.