| Fragile X Syndrome has been linked to symptoms of depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive tendencies in mothers of Fragile X children carrying the fragile X gene. However, these mothers have not been differentiated from those carrier mothers who have not passed on the fragile X gene to their child, on measures of depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorders. The present study compared measures of psychological symptom presentation in female carriers who are raising a child with Fragile X, to females carriers who are not raising an affected child, and to females who are not carriers and are not raising affected children. This study was conducted using data from a larger study from a clinic that received data from 2010 - 2013. The quasi-experimental design was be used to test the hypotheses, including carriers without FXS children, still have more Anxiety compared to normal controls, and carriers without FXS children, still have more Depression compared to normal controls. Further, to distinguish whether or not repeat size and x-activation ratio play a role in the levels of psychiatric problems, these factors were also analyzed using a quasi-experimental design to test the hypothesis that higher CGG repeat size in premutation carriers, makes for higher levels of psychiatric problems (anxiety and depression), particularly when there is a low x-activation ratio. |
