Mental Illness Risk Higher for Children of Older Fathers, Study Finds.

[elleng]

Children born to middle-aged men are more likely than those born to younger fathers to develop any of a range of mental difficulties, including attention deficits, bipolar disorder, autism and schizophrenia, according to the most comprehensive study to date of paternal age and offspring mental health.

In recent years, scientists have debated based on mixed evidence whether a father’s age is linked to his child’s vulnerability to individual disorders like autism and schizophrenia. Some studies have found strong associations, while others have found weak associations or none at all.

The new report, which looked at many mental disorders in Sweden, should inflame the debate, if not settle it, experts said. Men have a biological clock of sorts because of random mutations in sperm over time, the report suggests, and the risks associated with later fatherhood may be higher than previously thought. The findings were published on Wednesday in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.

“This is the best paper I’ve seen on this topic, and it suggests several lines of inquiry into mental illness,” said Dr. Patrick F. Sullivan, a professor of genetics at the University of North Carolina, who was not involved in the research. “But the last thing people should do is read this and say, ‘Oh no, I had a kid at 43, the kid’s doomed.’ The vast majority of kids born to older dads will be just fine.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/27/health/mental-illness-risk-higher-for-children-of-older-parents-study-finds.html?hp


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Maybe this sheds light on my family's problems???

[hunter]

1. Or, is having children at a later age a symptom of hidden mental difficulties?

[elleng]

2. So, you're asking,

'Which came first?' and suggesting hidden mental difficulties for men who don't father children until they are 40-something?

[hunter]

3. Recessive genes, who knows?

This kind of question, anything having anything to do with the mind, is difficult.

I don't have the study.

Someone who chooses "career first, kids later" might have genetic propensity to do that, but that same mental propensity might also manifest itself in slightly increased odds for having, say, an autistic child. Then it wouldn't be a consequence of deteriorating sperm or anything like that, it would have been something there in the father from the start.

I don't mean it in the sense that the man was hiding some mental illness from himself or others.

[elleng]

4. Thanks. And those with 'some mental illness' not likely to act on it,

one way or the other, imo.

'Choosing' career first etc may also mean not finding the right partner until later, too.
I agree.

Here's Picasso! http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/26/older-fathers-assessing-the-risks/