London - Children can inherit their parents’ worries, research suggests.
And it is not just by imitating what they see, say scientists - the tendency to be anxious may actually be in the genes.
According to a study, changes in specific brain circuits - areas of the brain connected by neurons - can be passed on through the generations.
The research, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found changes in the limbic circuit - made up of three connected areas of the brain - are likely to be involved in passing on the tendency for extreme anxiety.
The study involved scanning the brains of 600 young rhesus monkeys from a large multi-generational family.
Monkeys, like humans, can be temperamentally anxious and pass their anxiety-related genes on to the next generation.
The researchers identified the brain systems responsible by closely examining how individual differences in brain function and anxiety-related behaviour appeared in the family tree.
Study senior author Dr Ned Kalin, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine, said: “Now that we know where to look, we can develop a better understanding of the molecular alterations that give rise to anxiety-related brain function.
“Our genes shape our brains to help make us who we are.”
Daily Mail