Paternal Age and Mental Illness - Term Paper Example

Paternal Age and Mental Illness There are a wide variety of sources that provide information and data on innumerable s. Two psychology articles related to paternal age and mental illness in children were reviewed in order to compare and contrast similar yet different sources of information. One article entitled “The Father Factor” was featured in Scientific American Mind, a popular psychological magazine. The second article, “Advancing Paternal Age and the Risk of Schizophrenia,” was featured in the Archives of General Psychiatry, a peer-reviewed publication. While both articles provide information about the effect of increasing paternal age on mental illness in offspring, their structures and delivery of information are different. The first article reviewed was “The Father Factor,” written by Paul Raeburn, a man who fathered a child when he was past the age of fifty. When Paul and his wife were expecting their child, they were both well aware of problems that can occur when a woman is pregnant after age forty. Tests were performed to rule out genetic abnormalities in the fetus, particularly Down syndrome. The results all showed the unborn child to be healthy and while they were no guarantee that the child would be born in perfect health, Paul and his wife felt a measure of relief. It was only immediately after the birth of their son Henry that Paul heard a television report about children born to fathers over forty and the likelihood of their having autism as a result of increased paternal age. Paul researched the reported study at home and found that researchers in Israel not only found a link between paternal age and autism, but also a link to schizophrenia. In fact he discovered that a “40-year-old man’s risk of having a child with schizophrenia is the same as a 40-year-old woman’s risk of having a child with Down syndrome.” (31). Paul had no idea that he should have been concerned over his own age instead of just his wife’s. More recent studies have also shown that children of older father’s have an increased risk of bipolar disorder. Studies in the United States show a tripling of births to men between the ages of 40 and 49 and a decrease of over twenty percent of births to men younger than 30 since 1980. Raeburn mentions the study by Dolores Malaspina that was one of the first to research schizophrenia as a biological illness caused by paternal rather than maternal genes. It had always been assumed that because woman’s eggs age at the same rate she does, they began to deteriorate, thus causing disease. Some geneticists, however, had begun to think that continuous copying of genes during sperm productions leads to increased error and therefore genetic disorders in children. Malaspina used information on almost 90,000 children and their parents in Israel and found “that paternal age was strongly linked to the risk of schizophrenia.” (32) While Malaspina’s research has been repeated, this mechanism for schizophrenia development is not universally agreed upon and more research is required. The second article reviewed, “Advancing Paternal Age and the Risk of Schizophrenia,” is in fact the results of the study performed by Delores Malaspina and her colleagues. The male germ line is seen as a new source for genetic mutations, likely because of errors occurring during replication of sperm cells. The Israel Psychiatric Registry contains records of 87, 907 individuals born in Jerusalem between 1964 and 1976 and these were used to establish a link between advanced paternal age and Schizophrenia. This was an ideal group as it was based on an entire population, therefore eliminating bias in sampling. After controlling maternal age and other factors, results showed “that paternal age was a strong and significant predictor of the schizophrenia diagnosis, but not of other psychiatric disorders.” (361)* Thus, both articles conclude that advanced paternal age is an indicator for schizophrenia in their children. While both of these important and influential media discuss groundbreaking and surprising scientific facts, the similarities at large end there. The methods of delivery – structure of each article – are designed for two different types of reader. Academic American Mind is a popular magazine read largely by laymen, though academic readers can certainly glean important information from them as well. Many articles are written by average people – that is to say, those who work and live primarily outside of the scientific community. Peer-reviewed articles are publications that are written by members of the scientific community – doctors, researches, scientists – and are, as the name implies, reviewed by other members of that community prior to and after publication. Many peer-reviewed articles go under several revisions and are updated periodically to stay as accurate as possible. These two articles are not only written by authors from different backgrounds and educations, the way the articles read further identifies the differences between intended audiences. The general public - laymen - is the target audience for authors of these articles. The information is narrated as a story and broken up into different sections based on information covered. Paul Raeburn had had insight into the affect of paternal age on mental illness potentially developing in his own child. He begins with descriptions of his and his wife’s concerns about her age prior to giving birth. The story then progresses to the writer’s discovery of an article involving concern over paternal age and childbirth. While the link between paternal age and mental illness in itself is a unknown to man, Raeburn proceeds to provide backup information in four additional sections including recent trends in birth rates for men in upper and lower age ranges, comparison of the aging female egg versus the sperm of an aging male, background on how Delores Malaspina began her research and subsequent studies that replicated her results, and the idea of alternate opinions on the mechanisms that cause schizophrenia and other biological diseases in addition to a link between age and illness. The peer-reviewed article is set up very similar to a lab report. The article progresses from background information to method of study, its results and conclusions of that study; the hypothesis that paternal age is linked to mental illness in offspring was supported by the information used in the study. There are no personal stories or explanations as to why this information was important to the researchers performing the study but only results that should concern the entire population. This article is much more straightforward in the delivery of scientific information as opposed to the magazine article that was more personalized. "Advanced Paternal Age and the Risk of Schizophrenia" is a study focused on schizophrenia whereas Raeburns article made references to other data that pointed towards links to other mental illnesses. It is the setup of each article that most stands out when comparing the two. The psychological magazine article is much more reader-friendly in the sense that it progresses like a story and involves personal experiences in order to convey importance of the subject to the reader. The ideas, hypotheses, and findings featured in the article are certainly helpful to anyone studying this area of psychology in order to gain general knowledge on the subject. Conversely, the peer-reviewed article is much more focused on one specific hypothesis and illness rather than multiple findings as listed in the previous article. Specific statistics and conclusions based on actual test data are featured and provide information that is more useful to psychology or medical students and professionals who rely on case studies to write reports and form additional hypotheses related to the study. For example, a similar article was published in the Archives of General Psychology that focused solely on a link between advanced paternal age and bipolar disorder in children. The findings in these articles are indeed peer-reviewed; scientists and other professionals in the area provide feedback, which can lead to support or need for further research on the subject. Paul Raeburns article is based on general data and findings but lacks direct support from the psychological science community. In conclusion, there are many types of media that successfully convey important and influential information on scientific subjects. Two of the more important publications dedicated to psychology are psychological magazines and peer-reviewed articles. Both sources are equally valuable in their conveyance of information. Someone unfamiliar with scientific terms and experimental procedures would be much more comfortable reading an article like "The Father Factor" is it is written in language that is easily understood and interpreted by the general public. Peer-reviewed articles are very cut and dry and provide specific scientific findings that may be confusing to those unfamiliar with research techniques but invaluable to those specifically working in the field of psychology. Therefore, it is important to first establish what type of information is important for the research being done and how familiar a person is with interpreting and understanding scientific data. Once this is done a choice can be made as to which media is more appropriate for the circumstances. Works Cited Malaspina, Dolores, MD, Susan Harlap, MBBS, Shmuel Fennig, MD, Dov Heiman, MPH, Daniella Nahon, BA, Dina Feldman, MA, Ezra S. Susser MD, PhD. “Advanced Paternal Age and the Risk of Schizophrenia.” Archives of General Psychiatry 58.4 (2001): 361-367. Print. Raeburn, Paul. “The Father Factor.” Scientific American Mind 20.1 (2009): 30-35. Print. Read More