Genetic influences on life events in childhood

1996 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 813-820 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita Thapar ◽  
Peter McGuffin
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Life Events ◽  
Genetic Factors ◽  
Environmental Influence ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Genetic Influences ◽  
Self Reports

SynopsisUntil recently, life events were considered as chance occurrences. However, there is now increasing evidence that reported life events, at least in adult life are not random. Life events not only tend to cluster in families but also appear to be influenced by genetic factors. The aim of this study was to investigate whether genetic factors also influence reported life events in childhood using a systematically ascertained sample of 376 twin pairs aged 8 to 17. Overall, reported life events in this younger population were found to be heritable. However, the degree of genetic and environmental influence appeared to vary across the sexes, at least for parent-rated life events and according to whether life events were rated by the parents or the children themselves. Genetic influences appeared to be more important for self reports, suggesting that individual differences in cognition play a role in reporting life events.

scholarly journals Young Netherlands Twin Register (Y-NTR): A Longitudinal Multiple Informant Study of Problem Behavior

2007 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meike Bartels ◽  
C. E. M. (Toos) van Beijsterveldt ◽  
Eske M. Derks ◽  
Therese M. Stroet ◽  
Tinca J. C. Polderman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Genetic Factors ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
Attention Problems ◽  
Internalizing Behavior ◽  
Emotional And Behavioral Problems ◽  
Genetic Influences ◽  
Shared Environment ◽  
Rater Bias

AbstractThe Netherlands Twin Register (NTR) was established around 1987 at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The current article summarizes the longitudinal genetic analyses of maternal and paternal ratings of twins' behavior as a function of the sex of the children for the traits of aggression (AGG), attention problems (AP), anxious/depression (ANX), internalizing behavior (INT) and externalizing behavior (EXT). We found that genetic influences are the most important factor in explaining individual differences in these traits. For most phenotypes, influences of genetic factors fluctuate throughout development, with the exception of AP, for which genetic influences remain of similar magnitude. Changes in genetic influences parallel those in shared environmental influences, while nonshared environmental influences remain relatively constant. Around 10% to 20% of the variance is accounted for by parent-specific shared environment, which includes rater bias. For all phenotypes, stability throughout childhood is accounted for by genetic and shared environmental factors, while nonshared environmental influences are mainly age/measurement specific. About 15% of the phenotypic stability is accounted for by rater-specific shared environmental influences, which include rater bias. In conclusion, between ages 3 and 12 genetic factors are the most important cause of individual differences in emotional and behavioral problems.

scholarly journals Callous–unemotional behaviors in early childhood: Genetic and environmental contributions to stability and change

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 1227-1234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan Flom ◽  
Kimberly J. Saudino
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Child Behavior Checklist ◽  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Genetic Factors ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
Genetic Influences ◽  
Stability And Change ◽  
Continuity And Change ◽  
Callous Unemotional

AbstractCallous–unemotional (CU) behaviors demonstrate meaningful individual differences in early childhood, even in nonclinical samples with low mean levels of CU, but the factors underlying this variation have not been examined. This study investigated genetic and environmental contributions to individual differences and to sources of continuity and change in CU in toddler twins (145 monozygotic, 169 dizygotic) assessed at ages 2 and 3 years. CU, as assessed by the Child Behavior Checklist 1.5–5 (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000), was moderately stable across age (r = .45, p < .0001). Longitudinal biometric analyses revealed genetic and nonshared environmental influences on CU at both ages, with no significant contribution from shared environmental factors. Stability from age 2 to 3 was due to genetic factors, whereas change was due to both genetic and nonshared environmental influences. This genetic and nonshared environmental change was substantial, suggesting malleability of CU in early childhood. Over 50% of the genetic influences and 100% of the nonshared environmental influences on CU at age 3 were independent of those that operated at age 2. Implications of novel sources of variance across age are discussed.

Genetics and Psychology: Beyond Heritability

2001 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 229-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Plomin ◽  
Essi Colledge
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Genetic Factors ◽  
Behavioral Genetics ◽  
Genetic Research ◽  
Genetic Influences ◽  
Behavioral Traits ◽  
Nonshared Environment ◽  
Genetic Mechanisms ◽  
Asking Questions ◽  
Psychological Dimensions

The questions whether and how much genetic factors affect psychological dimensions and disorders represent important first steps in understanding the origins of individual differences. Because it is now widely accepted that genetic influences contribute importantly to individual differences throughout psychology, genetic research is moving beyond merely estimating heritability to asking questions about how genetic mechanisms work. We focus on two examples of ways in which genetic research is going beyond heritability. The first is to use genetically sensitive designs to identify specific environmental influences, taking into account two of the most important findings from behavioral genetics: nonshared environment and genotype-environment correlation. The second is to use the new tools of molecular genetics to identify specific genes responsible for the substantial heritability of a variety of behavioral traits.

Twin Study of Impulsive Buying and its Overlap with Personality

2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denis Bratko ◽  
Ana Butkovic ◽  
Michael Bosnjak
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Twin Study ◽  
Genetic Factors ◽  
Factor Model ◽  
Behavioral Genetics ◽  
Five Factor Model ◽  
Genetic Influences ◽  
Impulsive Buying ◽  
Age And Sex

This study explores the origins of individual differences in impulsive buying from a behavioral genetics perspective. It also assesses whether phenotypic associations between personality and impulsive buying tendency can be attributed to overlapping genetic factors. Data were collected via mail for 339 twin pairs. Personality traits according to a five-factor model and impulsive buying were measured. The results indicate that additive genetic, shared environmental, and nonshared environmental influences may be important for individual differences in impulsive buying. Phenotypic correlations with Impulsivity (r = .32), Neuroticism (r = .23), and Extraversion (r = .20) are largely driven by the overlapping genetic influences. Together with age and sex personality traits explain 25% of individual differences in impulsive buying tendency. These results add to our understanding of individual differences in impulsive buying and the nature of its relationship with personality.

The interplay of genetic influences and social processes in developmental theory: Specific mechanisms are coming into view

2000 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 357-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID REISS ◽  
JENAE M. NEIDERHISER
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Genetic Factors ◽  
Developmental Theory ◽  
Genetic Influences ◽  
New Findings ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Environmental ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Social Environmental Factors

In the coming years we can look forward to research that clarifies specific mechanisms that account for the interplay between genetic and environmental influences on psychological development. Certain misconceptions, arising from research traditions initiated by Francis Galton on the one hand and G. Stanley Hall on the other, may now be set aside in the light of new evidence. Three important findings promise a new synthesis. First, while each of us is born with about 100,000 genes that, under ordinary circumstances, do not change, the expression of these genes on behavior is dynamic. Some genetic influences are expressed early in development, but others are manifest many years later. Second, genetic factors often account not only for some of the individual differences in the measures of adjustments we typically use to monitor development but also for individual differences in environmental experiences that covary with those measures of adjustment. Indeed, genetic factors have been found to account for a surprising amount of covariance between measures of the social environment and of adjustment in young children, adolescents, and adults. Third, the expression of genetic influences are very malleable and responsive to the social environment. These new findings are revealing specific mechanisms for the interplay of genetic and social environmental factors in four domains. First, the social environment may play both a necessary and specific role in the expression of particular genetic influences on a range of behaviors from depression to social responsibility. Second, an understanding of the interplay between the social environment and genetics may lead to a clearer definition of the phenotypic manifestations of particular genetic influences. Third, we will—as a result of these studies—have a clearer fix on the timing of important events and their sequence in development. Fourth, this new genre of work promises to illumine more completely mechanisms by which the social environment influences development independent of genetic influence.

Individual differences in drug dependence in rats: The role of genetic factors and life events

2005 ◽  
Vol 526 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 251-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bart A. Ellenbroek ◽  
Elizabeth L. van der Kam ◽  
Martine C.J. van der Elst ◽  
Alexander R. Cools
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Life Events ◽  
Drug Dependence ◽  
Genetic Factors

The aetiology of depression

2006 ◽  
Vol 36 (10) ◽  
pp. 1341-1347 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID GOLDBERG
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Gender Differences ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Life Events ◽  
Genetic Factors ◽  
Stressful Life Events ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Stressful Life ◽  
Genetic Contribution ◽  
Prevalence Of Depression

This review will start by considering studies of the genetic contribution to the liability to depression, and go on to consider some of the ways in which environmental factors can modify gene expression. This will lead on to the pathways by which the genetic factors also appear to control stressful life events in adolescence and adult life, and then to a consideration of causes that are entirely environmental. We will conclude by considering the causes of the gender differences in the prevalence of depression during adult life.

scholarly journals Genetic and environmental architecture of conscientiousness in adolescence

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusuke Takahashi ◽  
Anqing Zheng ◽  
Shinji Yamagata ◽  
Juko Ando
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Effortful Control ◽  
Genetic Variance ◽  
Genetic Factors ◽  
Common Factor ◽  
Genetic Correlations ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Genetic Analyses ◽  
Environmental Correlations ◽  
Per Se

AbstractUsing a genetically informative design (about 2000 twin pairs), we investigated the phenotypic and genetic and environmental architecture of a broad construct of conscientiousness (including conscientiousness per se, effortful control, self-control, and grit). These four different measures were substantially correlated; the coefficients ranged from 0.74 (0.72–0.76) to 0.79 (0.76–0.80). Univariate genetic analyses revealed that individual differences in conscientiousness measures were moderately attributable to additive genetic factors, to an extent ranging from 62 (58–65) to 64% (61–67%); we obtained no evidence that shared environmental influences were observed. Multivariate genetic analyses showed that for the four measures used to assess conscientiousness, genetic correlations were stronger than the corresponding non-shared environmental correlations, and that a latent common factor accounted for over 84% of the genetic variance. Our findings suggest that individual differences in the four measures of conscientiousness are not distinguishable at both the phenotypic and behavioural genetic levels, and that the overlap was substantially attributable to genetic factors.

Genetic and environmental influences on teacher ratings of the Child Behavior Checklist

2000 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 373-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilary Towers ◽  
Erica Spotts ◽  
Jenae M. Neiderhiser ◽  
Robert Plomin ◽  
E. Mavis Hetherington ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Child Behavior ◽  
Child Behavior Checklist ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Genetic Factors ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
Teacher Ratings ◽  
Attention Problems ◽  
Shared Environment ◽  
Sibling Pairs ◽  
Self Reports

The knowledge we have of childhood and adolescent behaviour is, to some extent, a function of the unique perspective of the rater. Although many behavioural genetics studies have used parent and child self-reports in their assessments of child and adolescent adjustment, few have included teacher ratings of behaviour. It is possible that genetic and environmental contributions to teacher reports are different from those using parent and self-reports. The present study examined genetic and environmental influences on six subscales of the Child Behavior Checklist Teacher Report Form (CBC-TRF) using a normative sample of adolescents. The sample consisted of 373 same-sex twin and sibling pairs of varying degrees of genetic relatedness participating in the Nonshared Environment in Adolescent project (NEAD). For all of the CBC subscales, except attention problems and social problems, nonshared environmental influence was the most important source of variance. Additive genetic factors were of moderate importance for externalising behaviours, whereas nonadditive genetic factors contributed to the anxious/depressed, attention problems, withdrawn, and social problems subscales. For none of the constructs was shared environment a significant influence. Three alternative models testing for contrast effects, differences in twin and nontwin siblings, and differences in nondivorced and stepfamilies were examined. In most cases, the best-fitting model was a model that did not include any of these effects, suggesting that these factors do not critically affect the basic model. However, some of the patterns of correlations and parameter estimates were unusual and may warrant future investigation.

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