A study in JAMA Psychiatry finds that the association between advanced paternal age and psychiatric and academic morbidity is stronger than previously estimated, and attributes the cause to genetic mutations. An article in the U.K.’s Guardian, however, points out that other factors – such as the presence of older siblings, and parents’ divided attention – are unaccounted for in the article.
D’Onofrio, B., Rickert, M., Frans, E., Kuja-Halkola, R.; Paternal Age at Childbearing and Offspring Psychiatric and Academic Morbidity. JAMA Psychiatry. Online February 26, 2014. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2013.4525
