Associate Professor Jordan DeVylder, Ph.D., was recently featured on Medscape Medical News in an article titled, “City or Country Life? Genetic Risk for Mental Illness May Decide.”
The article discussed research asserting that high genetic risk for a range of psychiatric illnesses appears to influence an individuals’ choice of urban or rural life.
Still, the research adds another piece of the puzzle scientists seek to solve about where people live and mental illness risk, said Jordan DeVylder, PhD, associate professor of social work at Fordham University, New York City, who commented on the study for Medscape Medical News.
DeVylder, who has also published research on the topic but was not part of the current study, noted that urban living has long thought to be among the most consistent environmental risk factor for psychosis. However, he noted, “this association can also be explained by genetic selection, in which the same genes that predispose one to schizophrenia also predispose one to choose urban living.”
“This study presents the most convincing evidence to date that genetics have a major role in this association, at least in the countries where this association between urban living and psychosis exists,” he said.
