How does social isolation overlap with mental health problems in young people? Our new paper tested longitudinal genetic and environmental influences that are shared and specific to these experiences in the @ERiskstudy #OpenAccess (thrilling 🧵 below!!) https://t.co/4SrgNpZWeR

@CLScohorts meets @PurdueSociology ! Great meeting of the @ERC_Research /@UKRI_News FINDME project team in Lafayette and Chicago @KTNThompson @geurgas and Saul Newman. Looking forward to what's coming out of it!

Talking about the importance of the environment at a genetics conference is easier with wine… thank you @VangelisVassos for capturing and to #WCPG2024 for the absolute pleasure!!! @fctropf @robbeewedow @geurgas @BaptisteCouvy @laurahsheppard

´To measure the importance of loneliness for public health relevance solely as a causal factor oversimplifies its complex and intricate relationship with health’ @t_matth @KTNThompson @NicolaByrom @DeliaFuhrmann @SGDPCentreKCL @DrAPitman

Fantastic symposium @EPAPsyEpi this morning in Causal inference in Psychiatry, co-chaired with @IoannisBakolis, insightful talks from @DrRonaldson & Annie Jeffrey 🤓📊📉

'Through a longitudinal genetically sensitive approach, we emphasise moving away from a view that aetiology is static and highlight that social isolation is developmentally intertwined with the experience of poor mental health.

“Our findings emphasise that rather than a risk factor or an outcome, social isolation is aetiologically intertwined with the experience of poor mental health.” New research by @KTNThompson published online today in @ESCAPonline https://t.co/IMSBHYkMNL

(As always) Code is on GitHub: ⬇️ https://t.co/m1VBgBYsxO

THANK YOU TO MY GLORIOUS CO-AUTHORS @OlakunleOginni @jasminwer @andrea_danese @MalaikaLO @L_Arseneault @t_matth, to @Meike_Bartels for her insight, and to the @ERiskstudy team and participants!! @KingsIoPPN @SGDPCentreKCL @PurdueSociology

Rather, we provide evidence that integrative assessment of social experiences may be a helpful add-on to assessments of mental health, and that any social support interventions should be put into practice as early as possible in development

The genetic overlap we found does *not* suggest that being isolated is determined by genes, nor that mental health symptoms will always lead to isolation (or vice versa), nor that either cannot be addressed through interventions

Given the stigma and difficulty to recognise mental health symptoms, assessing social isolation provides an additional way for children to communicate their difficulties & identify those not only at risk, but are already experiencing difficulties that have not yet been recognised

Rather than a risk factor or an outcome, social isolation could be a marker of functional impairment occurring alongside mental health symptoms. It could act as an indicator that a person is having difficulties, as well as subsequently worsen their mental health symptoms

We emphasise moving away from a view that aetiology is static and highlight that social isolation is developmentally intertwined with the experience of poor mental health

We demonstrate that shared genetic risk largely explained the longitudinal overlap between social isolation and mental health symptoms, but the magnitude of this effect varied across disorders and timepoints

We used an independent pathway model to assess additive genetic (A), shared environmental (C), and non-shared environmental (E) influences on the overlap between social isolation and depression symptoms, conduct problems, and psychotic-like experiences from age 12 to 18

Social isolation is often conceptualised as a risk factor for poor mental health. However - this link is complex - social isolation could occur as a consequence of mental health symptoms, AND, a common underlying genetic liability could contribute to their co-occurrence

With the fall semester gearing up, I wanted to mention that I am on the post-doc market this cycle! My research examines strategies for reducing intergroup bias and creating environments in which targets of bias can thrive.🧵

This photo is such a beautiful reflection of the joy and pride of this amazing achievement. And two proud supervisors too. Super well done @KTNThompson on your graduation! @SGDPCentreKCL @KingsIoPPN @t_matth. The world is your oyster (and your whale too 😉).

(For some)