Negative Parenting, Epigenetic Age, and Psychological Problems

Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH)

DOI: 10.13056/acamh.26219
In this Papers Podcast, Dr. Stefanos Mastrotheodoros and Dr. Marco Boks discuss their co-authored JCPP paper ‘Negative parenting, epigenetic age, and psychological problems: prospective associations from adolescence to young adulthood’ (https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13821).
There is an overview of the paper, methodology, key findings, and implications for practice.
Discussion points include:

• Definition of the term ‘epigenetic age’ and what is known about its association with stress.
• Insight into ‘softer negative parenting indicators’ in the context of the study.
• Should ‘epigenetic clocks’ be used as a diagnostic or assessment tool in mental health services?
• The implications of the findings for child and adolescent mental health professionals.
• The scientific importance of the paper as having being pre-registered.

In this series, we speak to authors of papers published in one of ACAMH’s three journals. These are The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (JCPP); The Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH) journal; and JCPP Advances.