PS280 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Proband, Heredity, Psychopathology
Document Summary
Some genetic disorders are not inherited but caused by mutation (ex down syndrome) and not tracked through family studies. Children gets half their genes from each parent, therefore always has 50% of their genes in common. Sublings get half of their genes from mother, half from father, but it is not known which of a parent"s genes each child will get. Two siblings could in theory have anywhere from 0 to 100% of genes in common; average is 50% Proband: patient/person who has come to attention of researcher. If the proband and comparison person are alike on characteristic of interest, they are concordant. If concordance rate for disorder increases w increasing genetic similarity, this will offer support for genetic basis for the probem. However genetic basis cannot be confirmed from this bc families typically live in/create far more similar environments than found b/w people from different families. Heredity and environment are confounded in family studies.
