ArticleSocial psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology2020
The relationship between independent and dependent life events and depression symptoms in Sri Lanka: a twin and singleton study.
Article in Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Stressful Life Events and Neuroticism among Chinese Women with Recurrent Major Depressive Disorder.Actas espanolas de psiquiatria · 2025Article
- Annual Research Review: Towards a deeper understanding of nature and nurture: combining family-based quasi-experimental methods with genomic data.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2023Review
- Article
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
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Abstract
purposeLife events have been associated with a variety of mental health conditions including depression. There is a scarcity of research in South Asia exploring the aetiology of independent and dependent life events and their relationship with depression symptoms. This study aimed, in a Sri Lankan population, to identify the socio-demographic correlates and genetic and environmental influences on independent and dependent life events and their relationship with depression.
methodsQuestionnaire data came from the Colombo Twin and Singleton Follow-up Study, CoTaSS-2 (N = 3969), a population study of Sri Lankan twins and singletons. Lifetime-ever independent and dependent life events were measured using a questionnaire and depressive symptoms using the Revised Beck's Depression Inventory. Structural Equation Model-fitting analyses explored the genetic and environmental influences on life events and depression.
resultsLiving in a rural environment and financial hardship were associated with greater reporting of independent and dependent life events. Sex differences were evident in the aetiology of life events and depression symptoms. Independent and dependent life events, but not depression symptoms, were heritable in males. Independent life events and depression symptoms, but not dependent life events, were heritable in females. Non-shared environmental influences explained phenotypic associations between independent life events and depression symptoms in both males and females. Genetic and non-shared environmental influences explained the phenotypic associations between dependent life events and depression symptoms in males. Only non-shared environment explained the covariation between dependent life events and depression symptoms in females.
conclusionsSocio-demographic correlates of independent and dependent life events were similar to those reported in Western populations. Life events were associated with increased depression symptoms. Contrary to research in Western populations, we found that non-shared environmental, rather than genetic, influences explained much of the covariation between life events and depression symptoms. This suggests that whilst independent LEs may be heritable, the relationship is unlikely to be confounded by genetic influences and has significant implications for possible interventions for depression.
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