This study design also has several notable strengths. The focus on genetic association analyses of two related psychiatric phenotypes suggested by findings from an animal model, and latent variable modeling of a broad class of psychopathology (externalizing), is novel. The study also featured a highly traumatized subject sample with a high base-rate of PTSD and other disorders, with diagnoses based on clinician-administered interviews, which is not common in the PTSD genetics field. Another strength is the dense coverage of SNPs spanning the ANK3 gene that enabled more comprehensive analyses than targeted gene association studies that examine only a few SNPs.
