A Nuclear Twin Family Study of Self–Esteem

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 221-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wiebke Bleidorn ◽  
Anke Hufer ◽  
Christian Kandler ◽  
Christopher J. Hopwood ◽  
Rainer Riemann
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
Twin Studies ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Gene Environment ◽  
Environmental Component ◽  
Increased Sensitivity ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Twin Families

Twin studies suggest that both genes and environments influence the emergence and development of individual differences in self–esteem. However, different lines of research have emphasized either the role of genes or of environmental influences in shaping self–esteem, and the pathways through which genes and environments exert their influence on self–esteem remain largely unclear. In this study, we used nationally representative data from over 2000 German twin families and a nuclear twin family design (NTFD) to further our understanding of the genetic and environmental influences on individual differences in self–esteem. Compared with classical twin designs, NTFDs allow for finer–grained descriptions of the genetic and environmental influences on phenotypic variation, produce less biased estimates of those effects, and provide more information about different environmental influences and gene–environment correlation that contribute to siblings’ similarity. Our NTFD results suggested that additive and non–additive genetic influences contributed to individual differences in self–esteem as well as environmental influences that are both shared and not shared by twins. The shared environmental component mostly reflected non–parental influences. These findings highlight the increased sensitivity afforded by NTFDs but also remaining limitations that need to be addressed by future behavioural genetic work on the sources of self–esteem. Copyright © 2018 European Association of Personality Psychology

scholarly journals WHY DO PEOPLE DIFFER IN THEIR ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION? A NUCLEAR TWIN FAMILY STUDY

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 433-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lea Klassen ◽  
Eike F. Eifler ◽  
Anke Hufer ◽  
Rainer Riemann
Keyword(s):  
Achievement Motivation ◽  
School Environment ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
Twin Studies ◽  
Genetic Influences ◽  
Parental Home ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Home And School

Although many previous studies have emphasized the role of environmental factors, such as parental home and school environment, on achievement motivation, classical twin studies suggest that both additive genetic influences and non-shared environmental influences explain interindividual differences in achievement motivation. By applying a Nuclear Twin Family Design on the data of the German nationally representative of TwinLife study, we analyzed genetic and environmental influences on achievement motivation in adolescents and young adults. As expected, the results provided evidence for the impact of additive genetic variation, non-additive genetic influences, as well as twin specific shared environmental influences. The largest amount of variance was attributed to non-shared environmental influences, showing the importance of individual experiences in forming differences in achievement motivation. Overall, we suggest a revision of models and theories that explain variation in achievement motivation by differences in familial socialization only.

Ordinary Origins of Psychological Problems

2021 ◽  
pp. 187-214
Author(s):  
Benjamin B. Lahey
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
Race And Ethnicity ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
Psychological Problems ◽  
Stressful Events ◽  
Stress Generation ◽  
The People ◽  
Gene Environment

This chapter delves deeper into the role of environmental influences, without forgetting that environmental influences always play their role in the context of gene–environment correlations and interactions. The environments (i.e., experiences) that, on average, are statistically correlated with a higher risk are easy to identify in studies. They include stressful events, including trauma and economic hardship, maladaptive family and neighborhood environments, racial discrimination, and some characteristics of family environments. Environments do not passively shape behavior into psychological problems, however. People actively transact with their environments, meaning that their environments influence their behavior, their behavior and other characteristics influence their environments, and their characteristics moderate the extent to which their experiences influence their behavior. Many characteristics influence people’s transactions with the environment, including age, sex, race, and ethnicity. It is also useful to examine broad individual differences in cognitive and emotional traits, termed dispositions, which play key roles in people’s transactions with the environment that result in psychological problems. One important aspect of this is that many people engage in stress generation, in which their behavior actively creates stressful events such as conflicts with others that in turn stress the people who engage in the stress generation.

Understanding the Dark Side of Costly Punishment: The Impact of Individual Differences in Everyday Sadism and Existential Threat

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 498-505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Pfattheicher ◽  
Simon Schindler
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Situational Factors ◽  
Dark Side ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Costly Punishment ◽  
Basic Characteristics ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact

In public goods situations, a specific destructive behaviour reliably emerges when individuals face the possibility of costly punishing others: antisocial punishment, that is, costly punishing cooperative individuals. So far, however, little is known about the individual differences and situational factors that are associated with the dark side of costly punishment. This research deals with this shortcoming. We argue that antisocial punishment reflects the basic characteristics of sadism, namely, aggressive behaviour to dominate and to harm other individuals. We further argue that antisocial punishment may reflect a type of behaviour that allows for the maintenance of self–esteem (through aggressively dominating others). Therefore, we expect that individuals who report a disposition for everyday sadism are particularly likely to engage in antisocial punishment when their self has been threatened (by thinking about one's own death). In a study ( N = 99), we found empirical support for this assumption. The present research contributes to a better understanding of antisocial punishment and suggests that sadistic tendencies play a crucial role, especially when the self is (existentially) threatened. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology

scholarly journals Charting self-esteem during marital dissolution

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wiebke Bleidorn ◽  
Ted Schwaba ◽  
Jaap J. A. Denissen ◽  
Christopher James Hopwood
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Marital Dissolution ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Life Transition ◽  
Moderator Variables ◽  
Marital Separation ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Nationally Representative

The purpose of this study was to chart changes in self-esteem before and after marital dissolution to identify the factors that shape individuals’ self-esteem during this life transition. To do this, we analyzed 10 annual waves of self-esteem data from 291 divorcees from a nationally representative panel study of the Netherlands (N ~ 13,000). We charted the course of self-esteem before and after marital dissolution and tested a broad set of moderator variables that may shape individuals’ self-esteem trajectories. The average divorcee experienced significant decreases in self-esteem preceding marital dissolution and remained stable afterwards. There were substantial individual differences in self-esteem trajectories, both before and after marital separation. Divorcees who experienced financial hardship, were affiliated with a church or religion, or scored low in conscientiousness showed the most pronounced decreases in self-esteem during the years approaching marital dissolution.These results are consistent with perspectives that view divorce as an opportunity to abate the strains of an unhappy marriage.

Idiographically Desirable Responding: Individual Differences in Perceived Trait Desirability Predict Overclaiming

2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 580-592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven G. Ludeke ◽  
Yanna J. Weisberg ◽  
Colin G. Deyoung
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Peer Ratings ◽  
Personality Psychology ◽  
Self Reports ◽  
Performance Based Assessment ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Peer Reports

Objective Conventional measures of self–report bias implicitly assume consistent patterns of overclaiming across individuals. We contrast this with the effects of individual differences in views of trait desirability on overclaiming, which we label idiographically desirable responding (IDR). Method We obtained self–reports and peer reports of trait levels on mixed–sex samples of undergraduates (N = 352) and middle–aged community members (N = 541), with an additional performance–based assessment in the latter sample. Results Compared to conventional measures of bias, individual differences in trait desirability ratings identified an independent and comparatively large amount of the variance in overclaiming for personality and physical attractiveness. The importance of IDR was confirmed by the replication of these results for intelligence, for which both peer–ratings and performance data were available. Individuals differed in the extent to which they rely on IDR, with these differences indexed by the correlation between views of the desirability of a given trait and the extent to which one overclaimed that trait. Individuals who were more prone to overclaim in this fashion exhibited higher self–esteem as well as higher scores on questionnaire measures of socially desirable responding. Conclusion Overclaiming of traits resulted both from the patterns of biases identified by conventional overclaiming measures and from individual differences in perceptions of what traits are most desirable. Copyright © 2013 European Association of Personality Psychology

scholarly journals Mega-analysis of 31,396 individuals from 6 countries uncovers strong gene-environment interaction for human fertility

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix C. Tropf ◽  
Renske M. Verweij ◽  
Peter J. van der Most ◽  
Gert Stulp ◽  
Andrew Bakshi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Twin Studies ◽  
Genetic Effects ◽  
Age At First Birth ◽  
Environment Interaction ◽  
First Birth ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Number Of Children ◽  
Human Fertility ◽  
Gene Environment

AbstractFamily and twin studies suggest that up to 50% of individual differences in human fertility within a population might be heritable. However, it remains unclear whether the genes associated with fertility outcomes such as number of children ever born (NEB) or age at first birth (AFB) are the same across geographical and historical environments. By not taking this into account, previous genetic studies implicitly assumed that the genetic effects are constant across time and space. We conduct a mega-analysis applying whole genome methods on 31,396 unrelated men and women from six Western countries. Across all individuals and environments, common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) explained only ~4% of the variance in NEB and AFB. We then extend these models to test whether genetic effects are shared across different environments or unique to them. For individuals belonging to the same population and demographic cohort (born before or after the 20th century fertility decline), SNP-based heritability was almost five times higher at 22% for NEB and 19% for AFB. We also found no evidence suggesting that genetic effects on fertility are shared across time and space. Our findings imply that the environment strongly modifies genetic effects on the tempo and quantum of fertility, that currently ongoing natural selection is heterogeneous across environments, and that gene-environment interactions may partly account for missing heritability in fertility. Future research needs to combine efforts from genetic research and from the social sciences to better understand human fertility.Authors SummaryFertility behavior – such as age at first birth and number of children – varies strongly across historical time and geographical space. Yet, family and twin studies, which suggest that up to 50% of individual differences in fertility are heritable, implicitly assume that the genes important for fertility are the same across both time and space. Using molecular genetic data (SNPs) from over 30,000 unrelated individuals from six different countries, we show that different genes influence fertility in different time periods and different countries, and that the genetic effects consistently related to fertility are presumably small. The fact that genetic effects on fertility appear not to be universal could have tremendous implications for research in the area of reproductive medicine, social science and evolutionary biology alike.

NATURE, NURTURE AND FIRST SEXUAL INTERCOURSE IN THE USA: FITTING BEHAVIOURAL GENETIC MODELS TO NLSY KINSHIP DATA

1999 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOSEPH LEE RODGERS ◽  
DAVID C. ROWE ◽  
MAURY BUSTER
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Influence ◽  
Molecular Genetic ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Genetic Influences ◽  
First Sexual Intercourse ◽  
Shared Environmental Influence ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Opposite Sex ◽  
Nationally Representative

Fisher (1930) presented both theoretical and empirical results concerning genetic influences on fertility. Since then, only sparse research has been done on the genetics of fertility, although more sophisticated methodogy and data now exist than were available to Fisher. This paper presents a behavioural genetic analysis of age at first intercourse, accounting for genetic, shared environmental, and selected non-shared environmental influences. The data came from the nationally representative National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). A newly developed kinship linking procedure was used that identifies links for cousins, half-siblings, full-siblings and twins in the NLSY. The results suggest a genetic influence in the overall dataset, and also among whites and in male–male and opposite-sex pairs. Genetic influences were extremely small or non-existent for blacks and for female–female pairs. Shared environmental influences were small for most subsets of the data, but moderate for female–female pairs. Two specific non-shared environmental influences – self-esteem and locus of control – were ruled out as accounting for any meaningful variance, although other general sources of non-shared environmental influence appear potentially important. Analysis of selected samples from upper and lower tails suggested that genetic influences are important in accounting for both early and late non-virginity. These findings are consistent with work reported by Miller et al. (1999), who used molecular genetic methods. Generally, these findings support the existence of genetic influences and implicate non-shared environmental influences as being important determinants of the timing of loss of virginity among US adolescents and young adults.

scholarly journals Retirement is Associated with Change in Self-Esteem

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ted Schwaba ◽  
Wiebke Bleidorn
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Propensity Score ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Comparison Group ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Transition To Retirement ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Matched Comparison

We examined the course of self-esteem during the transition to retirement in a sample of 690 retirees (ages 51-81) and a propensity-score matched comparison group of 515 non-retirees drawn from a nationally representative longitudinal study in the Netherlands. The average retiree decreased in self-esteem in the five years before retirement and remained stable in self-esteem in the five years following retirement. We also found significant individual differences in retirees’ self-esteem trajectories but failed to identify moderators that may account for these individual differences. We discuss the implications of these results for theory and future research on lifespan self-esteem development.

Within-Subject Variability in Ingratiation as a Function of Self-Esteem and Time

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 216-226
Author(s):  
Katharina Schmitte ◽  
Bert Schreurs ◽  
Mien Segers ◽  
I. M. “Jim” Jawahar
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Small Group ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Random Coefficient ◽  
Person Perspective ◽  
Authority Figure ◽  
Subject Variability ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Within Subject Variability

Abstract. Adopting a within-person perspective, we theorize why ingratiation use directed toward an authority figure increases over time and for whom. We posit that as the appraisal event draws closer, the salience of achieving good evaluations increases, leading to an increasing use of ingratiation. We further propose that the increase will be stronger for individuals with low relative to high self-esteem. Participants were 349 students enrolled in a small-group, tutor-led management course. Data were collected in three bi-weekly waves and analyzed using random coefficient modeling. Results show that ingratiation use increased as time to the evaluation decreased, and low self-esteem students ingratiated more as time progressed. We conclude that ingratiation use varies as a function of contextual and inter-individual differences.

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