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Genetic Analyses of Maternal and Teacher Ratings on Attention Problems in 7-year-old Dutch Twins

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Abstract

The goal of the present study is to examine genetic and environmental influences on maternal and teacher ratings of Attention Problems (AP) in 7-year-old children. Teachers completed the Teacher Report Form (N = 2259 pairs), and mothers the Child Behavior Checklist (N = 2057 pairs). Higher correlations were found in twins rated by the same teacher than in twins rated by different teachers. This can be explained by rater bias or by a greater environmental sharing in twins, who are in the same classroom. We further found that 41% of the variation in maternal and teacher ratings is explained by a common factor. The heritability of this common factor is 78%. The heritabilities of the rater specific factors of mothers and teachers are 76% and 39%, respectively. Because Attention Problems that are persistent over situations may indicate more serious behavior problems than context dependent Attention Problems, we believe that gene finding strategies should focus on this common phenotype.

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Acknowledgments

We want to thank the participants of the twin studies. This work was supported by NWO Grant numbers 575-25-006, 575-25-012, and 904-57-94 (Boomsma, P.I.), NIMH Grant number MH58799 (Hudziak, P.I.), and by the Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department: Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit, Van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    E. M. Derks, C. E. M. Van Beijsterveldt & D. I. Boomsma

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Medicine (Division of Human Genetics), Center for Children, Youth and Families, University of Vermont, College of Medicine, Burlington, VT, USA

    J. J. Hudziak

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    C. V. Dolan

Authors
  1. E. M. Derks
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  2. J. J. Hudziak
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  3. C. E. M. Van Beijsterveldt
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  4. C. V. Dolan
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  5. D. I. Boomsma
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Correspondence to E. M. Derks.

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Edited by Richard Rose

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Derks, E.M., Hudziak, J.J., Van Beijsterveldt, C.E.M. et al. Genetic Analyses of Maternal and Teacher Ratings on Attention Problems in 7-year-old Dutch Twins. Behav Genet 36, 833–844 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-006-9084-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-006-9084-5

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