About the Study: These findings suggest that partner similarity for psychiatric disorders is substantial and includes both within- and cross-disorder patterns, suggesting assortative mating alongside other mechanisms that may generate similarity between coparents. Regardless of its underlying mechanisms, this structure contributes meaningfully to observed family-based heritability and prevalence and leads to clustering of familial disease risk with important societal and public health implications.
Corresponding Author: Thomas Werge, PhD, Mental Health Services, Copenhagen University Hospital Thomas.Werge@regionh.dk & University of Copenhagen. Institute of Biological Psychiatry, Mental Health Services @ Sct. Hans, 2, Boserupvej, Roskilde 4000, Denmark ( alfonso.buil.demur@regionh.dk ).
10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2026.2712
To access the embargoed study: Visit our JAMA Network Media Center at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
Link to the article in your story
We encourage you to link out to this article in your story using the link below. It includes an access token that will give free access to the article for your readers up to one year after publication. (The link will be live after the article publishes and embargo is lifted.)
Editor's Note : Please see the article for additional information, including full author list, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.
JAMA Psychiatry
Population-Level Implications of Parental Similarity for the Prevalence and Heritability of Psychiatric Disorders
9-Sep-2026