Dynastic social processes and the transgenerational transmission of risk and resilience to mental illness: implications for prevention

Children inherit not only parental genetic risk but also an extended social environment whose combined influence can markedly amplify early environmental risk factors—such as in-utero exposures and obstetric complications—and sustain adverse familial conditions, including suboptimal parenting during sensitive attachment periods, high expressed emotion, chronic family stress, perceived psychosocial inadequacy, and intergenerational stigma. This hypothesized transgenerational dynastic effect carries major implications for understanding both direct and indirect genetic pathways to mental illness and for designing preventive interventions. Approaches confined to individual or nuclear family levels may be insufficient to mitigate the environmental and social transmission of risk; instead, effective primary prevention requires integrated strategies spanning social and familial contexts.