May 04, 2015 12:39 PM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

New research suggests that family environment and neighborhood can have a major impact on mental health.

American and Swedish researchers collected and analyzed data from more than 500,000 children in Sweden. The data covers a timespan of more than a decade. During the course of the study, 4.8 percent of the children developed a psychiatric disorder.

They found that high neighborhood deprivation was associated with a two-fold higher risk of conduct disorder, a 40 percent increased risk of anxiety disorder and a 20 percent increased risk of mood disorders, after adjustment for individual factors. Moderate neighborhood deprivation was associated with a 30% increased risk of ADHD, after adjustments.

"However, we also found that familial random effects, including both genetic and family environmental factors, accounted for six to eight times as much of the total variation in psychiatric disorders, compared with neighborhood random effects," Professor Jan Sundquist, who led the research, said in a statement. "The estimated risks and random effects indicate that children are strongly affected by both their family and neighborhood environments and that the former seems to be more important at a population level."

Researchers said further research is necessary argue the academics, particularly regarding intervention strategies in early life.

In the meantime Sundquist and his team have suggested that their findings should help shape policies to promote mental health by factoring in potential influences from both family and neighborhood environments.

The findings are detailed in the Journal of Psychiatric Research.

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