Summary: A large Danish study finds that children who carry a higher burden of genetic variants linked to ADHD have an increased statistical risk of experiencing severe childhood maltreatment and neglect. The risk is further elevated when parents have a psychiatric diagnosis. The research highlights how genetic vulnerability and environmental factors interact and points to opportunities for earlier support for at-risk children.
The study also reports that girls are more frequently exposed to maltreatment than boys, a disparity that appears driven by social and environmental factors rather than genetic differences. Understanding both genetic and environmental contributors can help clinicians, educators, and child welfare professionals better identify and protect vulnerable children.
Key Facts:
- ADHD genetics: Higher polygenic scores for ADHD are associated with greater rates of childhood maltreatment across multiple psychiatric diagnoses.
- Parental impact: The absolute risk of maltreatment increases when a parent has a diagnosed psychiatric disorder.
- Gender differences: Girls experience higher rates of maltreatment, which appears linked to social factors rather than inherited genetic risk.
Source: Aarhus University
Children who carry a relatively high number of genetic variants associated with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) also show a statistically higher risk of severe neglect and other forms of childhood maltreatment.
These findings come from a new study published in JAMA Psychiatry by researchers at the Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University. The research examines how polygenic risk scores—measures that summarize a person’s inherited load of risk variants for a trait—relate to documented childhood maltreatment across five major psychiatric diagnostic groups.
Using a national, population-based dataset with genetic information, the investigators tested whether genetic liability for psychiatric traits and related factors (including educational attainment and substance use) is associated with increased exposure to physical, sexual, or emotional abuse, deprivation, or severe neglect in childhood.
Lead author Ditte Demontis and colleagues report that genetics contributes to risk. Among individuals diagnosed with ADHD, those in the highest quartile of ADHD polygenic scores had an absolute childhood maltreatment risk of 5.6%, compared with 3.3% in the lowest polygenic-score quartile.
Environment and genetics interact
The study shows that parental psychiatric diagnoses interact with the child’s genetic risk. For children in the high ADHD polygenic-score group, the absolute risk of childhood maltreatment was 5.7% if the child’s parents had a psychiatric diagnosis, versus 2.5% if the parents did not.
This pattern supports a model in which inherited genetic predispositions—potentially linked to externalizing behavior and other traits—combine with parental mental-health challenges and other environmental stressors to increase the probability of maltreatment. Even so, genetics does not determine individual outcomes: a higher polygenic score increases statistical risk but does not mean a child will be maltreated.
The child is never to blame
The authors emphasize that maltreatment is never the child’s fault. The data show no evidence that genetic risk justifies neglect or abuse; rather, genetic findings help identify who may benefit from preventive support and early interventions.
Although girls in the study were more often exposed to childhood maltreatment than boys, polygenic analyses did not reveal genetic differences that explain the sex disparity. This suggests that cultural, social, or contextual factors are likely contributors to the higher observed rates among females.
Relevant for researchers and practitioners
This analysis is notable for its large sample size and genetic precision, offering a clearer picture of how polygenic risk scores for ADHD and other traits correlate with documented childhood maltreatment across psychiatric diagnoses. The results are especially relevant for clinicians, child-protection professionals, and researchers exploring gene–environment interplay in mental health.
The study demonstrates correlations and stratified risk but does not establish detailed causal pathways explaining how ADHD-related genetics might increase maltreatment risk. Further research is needed to map behavioral, family, and environmental mechanisms that mediate this association.
Behind the research
- The study used polygenic scores (PGS) representing genetic liability for psychiatric disorders, childhood maltreatment, educational attainment, and substance use to compare groups within a large Danish iPSYCH cohort.
- Collaborators included Helen Minis, School of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, and Edmund Sonuga-Barke, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London.
- External funding: Lundbeck Foundation and Novo Nordisk Foundation.
About this genetics, ADHD, and child abuse research news
Author: Vibe Noordeloos
Source: Aarhus University
Contact: Vibe Noordeloos – Aarhus University
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access. “Genetic Architecture and Risk of Childhood Maltreatment Across 5 Psychiatric Diagnoses” by Ditte Demontis et al., JAMA Psychiatry (study reports and supplementary materials available via the journal).
Abstract
Genetic Architecture and Risk of Childhood Maltreatment Across 5 Psychiatric Diagnoses
Importance
Childhood maltreatment (CM) is linked to later psychiatric disorders. The mechanisms behind this association are complex and involve genetic and environmental components.
Objective
To characterize polygenic patterns among individuals exposed to childhood maltreatment across psychiatric conditions and to test whether genetics changes absolute CM risk in the presence of high-impact environmental factors such as parental psychiatric diagnoses.
Design, Setting, and Participants
The population-based Danish iPSYCH sample was analyzed for 13 polygenic scores in CM-exposed individuals across five ICD-10 psychiatric diagnoses, compared with controls. Individuals were stratified into polygenic-score quantiles and absolute CM risk estimated using Cox regression, including sex-specific analyses. Data were analyzed from June 2022 to December 2024.
Exposures
Polygenic scores for psychiatric disorders, childhood maltreatment, educational attainment, and substance use.
Main Outcomes and Measures
Associations between polygenic scores and documented childhood maltreatment across psychiatric diagnoses.
Results
The study included 102,856 individuals (mean [SD] age, 22.6 [7.1] years; 54,918 male [53.4%]), aged 8 to 35 years. Cases included ADHD (n=22,674), autism (n=18,941), schizophrenia (n=6,103), bipolar disorder (n=3,061), and depression (n=28,896), with controls (n=34,689). Polygenic scores for ADHD and educational attainment were associated with childhood maltreatment across diagnoses. For ADHD, absolute CM risk was 5.6% in the highest ADHD-PGS quartile versus 3.3% in the lowest (hazard ratio quantile 4 vs quantile 1 = 1.81; 95% CI, 1.47–2.22). Children with parents who had a psychiatric diagnosis faced an absolute CM risk of 5.7%, compared with 2.5% for those whose parents did not; genetics still stratified risk within these groups. No genetic differences were found between CM-exposed males and females, yet absolute CM risk showed notable sex differences (for example, 5.6% for females vs 2.0% for males in the highest ADHD-PGS quartile).
Conclusions and Relevance
Individuals with high ADHD polygenic risk and/or low polygenic scores for educational attainment show elevated risk of childhood maltreatment. The results suggest that additional attention and preventive action may be warranted for subgroups at higher combined genetic and environmental risk—particularly females with high ADHD genetic liability and children with a parent diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder.