Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Genetic and Environmental Contributions to Common Psychopathologies of Childhood and Adolescence: A Study of Twins and Their Siblings

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

We report findings based on analyses of self-reports of six common adolescent psychopathologies (attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, ADHD; conduct disorder, CD; oppositional defiant disorder, ODD; generalized anxiety disorder, GAD; separation anxiety disorder, SAD; and major depressive disorder, MDD) in a sample of 1,162 male and female adolescent (12–19 years) twin pairs and 426 siblings. Prevalence statistics for past year and lifetime reports confirm differences between genders for CD, GAD, SAD, and MDD, and a lack of differences between twins and their non-twin siblings. Biometrical modeling was conducted to ascertain the relative influences of genes, and shared and non-shared environments contributing to these disorders. A more robust estimate of these parameters was obtained by including non-twin siblings. Age-specific thresholds were integrated into the analyses to appropriately model the developmental patterns of behavior. We found evidence for both genetic and non-shared environmental influences for all disorders. Shared environmental influences also seem to be important for MDD and lifetime GAD.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  • Angold, A., Messer, S. C., Stangl, D., Farmer, E. M., Costello, E. J., & Burns, B. J. (1998). Perceived parental burden and service use for child and adolescent psychiatric disorders. American Journal of Public Health, 88, 75–80.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Burt, S. A., Krueger, R. F., McGue, M., & Iacono, W. G. (2001). Sources of covariation among attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and conduct disorder: The importance of shared environment. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 110, 516–525.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carey, G. (1992). Twin imitation for antisocial behavior: implications for genetic and family environment research. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 101, 18–25.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cronk, N. J., Slutske, W. S., Madden, P. A., Bucholz, K. K., & Heath, A. C. (2004). Risk for separation anxiety disorder among girls: Paternal absence, socioeconomic disadvantage, and genetic vulnerability. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 113, 237–247.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eaves, L. J., Silberg, J. L., Meyer, J. M., Maes, H. H., Simonoff, E., Pickles, A., et al. (1997). Genetics and developmental psychopathology: 2. The main effects of genes and environment on behavioral problems in the Virginia Twin Study of Adolescent Behavioral Development. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 38, 965–980.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eley, T. C. (1999). Behavioral genetics as a tool for developmental psychology: Anxiety and depression in children and adolescents. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 2, 21–36.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eley, T. C., Deater-Deckard, K., Fombonne, E., Fulker, D. W., & Plomin, R. (1998). An adoption study of depressive symptoms in middle childhood. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 39, 337–345.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Faraone, S. V., & Doyle, A. E. (2001). The nature and heritability of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 10, 299–316, viii–ix.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Feigon, S. A., Waldman, I. D., Levy, F., & Hay, D. A. (2001). Genetic and environmental influences on separation anxiety disorder symptoms and their moderation by age and sex. Behavior Genetics, 31, 403–411.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gau, J. S., Silberg, J. L., Erickson, M. T., & Hewitt, J. K. (1992). Childhood behavior problems: A comparison of twin and non-twin samples. Acta Geneticae Medicae et Gemellologiae, 41, 53–63.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Glowinski, A. L., Madden, P. A., Bucholz, K. K., Lynskey, M. T., & Heath, A. C. (2003). Genetic epidemiology of self-reported lifetime DSM-IV major depressive disorder in a population-based twin sample of female adolescents. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 44, 988–996.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hay, D. A., Prior, M., Collett, S., & Williams, M. (1987). Speech and language development in preschool twins. Acta Geneticae Medicae et Gemellologiae, 36, 213–223.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hewitt, J. K., Silberg, J. L., Neale, M. C., Eaves, L. J., & Erickson, M. (1992). The analysis of parental ratings of children's behavior using LISREL. Behavior Genetics, 22, 293–317.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hewitt, J. K., Silberg, J. L., Rutter, M., Simonoff, E., Meyer, J. M., Maes, H., et al. (1997). Genetics and developmental psychopathology: 1. Phenotypic assessment in the Virginia Twin Study of Adolescent Behavioral Development. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 38, 943–963.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Iacono, W. G., & McGue, M. (2002). Minnesota Twin Family Study. Twin Research, 5, 482–487.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, W., Krueger, R. F., Bouchard, T. J., Jr., & McGue, M. (2002). The personalities of twins: Just ordinary folks. Twin Research, 5, 125–131.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kendler, K. S., Martin, N. G., Heath, A. C., & Eaves, L. J. (1995). Self-report psychiatric symptoms in twins and their nontwin relatives: Are twins different? American Journal of Medical Genetics, 60, 588–591.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Koeppen-Schomerus, G., Spinath, F. M., & Plomin, R. (2003). Twins and non-twin siblings: Different estimates of shared environmental influence in early childhood. Twin Research, 6, 97–105.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kovacs, M., & Devlin, B. (1998). Internalizing disorders in childhood. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 39, 47–63.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Krueger, R. F., Caspi, A., & Moffitt, T. E. (2000). Epidemiological personology: The unifying role of personality in population-based research on problem behaviors. Journal of Personality, 68, 967–998.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Legrand, L. N., McGue, M., & Iacono, W. G. (1999). A twin study of state and trait anxiety in childhood and adolescence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 40, 953–958.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Levy, F., Hay, D. A., McLaughlin, M., Wood, C., & Waldman, I. (1996). Twin sibling differences in parental reports of ADHD, speech, reading and behaviour problems. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 37, 569–578.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Levy, F., Hay, D. A., McStephen, M., Wood, C., & Waldman, I. (1997). Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: A category or a continuum? Genetic analysis of a large-scale twin study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 737–744.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Neale, M. C., Boker, S. M., Xie, G., & Maes, H. (1999). Mx: Statistical Modeling (5th ed.). Richmond, VA: Department of Psychiatry.

  • Neale, M. C., & Cardon, L. R. (1992). Biometrical genetics. In M. C. Neale & L. R. Cardon (Eds.), Methodology for Genetic Studies of Twins and Families (pp. 55–70). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newman, D. L., Moffitt, T. E., Caspi, A., Magdol, L., Silva, P. A., & Stanton, W. R. (1996). Psychiatric disorder in a birth cohort of young adults: Prevalence, comorbidity, clinical significance, and new case incidence from ages 11 to 21. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64, 552–562.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • O'Connor, S., Sorbel, J., Morzorati, S., Li, T. K., & Christian, J. C. (1999). A twin study of genetic influences on the acute adaptation of the EEG to alcohol. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 23, 494–501.

    Google Scholar 

  • O'Connor, T. G., Neiderhiser, J. M., Reiss, D., Hetherington, E. M., & Plomin, R. (1998). Genetic contributions to continuity, change, and co-occurrence of antisocial and depressive symptoms in adolescence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 39, 323–336.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pearson, K., & Lee, A. (1901). On the inheritance of characters not capable of exact quantitative measurement. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, A(195), 79–150.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pike, A., & Plomin, R. (1996). Importance of nonshared environmental factors for childhood and adolescent psychopathology. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 35, 560–570.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Plomin, R., Campos, J., Corley, R. P., Emde, R. N., Fulker, D. W., Kagan, J., et al. (1990). Individual differences during the second year of life: The MacArthur Longitudinal Twins Study. In J. Colombo & J. Fagan (Eds.), Individual differences in infancy: reliability, stability, prediction (pp. 431–455). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Plomin, R., & Daniels, D. (1987). Why are children in the same family so different from one another? Behavorial and Brain Sciences, 10, 1–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Posthuma, D., & Boomsma, D. I. (2000). A note on the statistical power in extended twin designs. Behavior Genetics, 30, 147–158.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Posthuma, D., De Geus, E. J., Bleichrodt, N., & Boomsma, D. I. (2000). Twin-singleton differences in intelligence? Twin Research, 3, 83–87.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Powers, W. F., & Kiely, J. L. (1994). The risks confronting twins: a national perspective. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 170, 456–461.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Powers, W. F., & Wampler, N. S. (1996). Further defining the risks confronting twins. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 175, 1522–1528.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pulkkinen, L., Vaalamo, I., Hietala, R., Kaprio, J., & Rose, R. J. (2003). Peer reports of adaptive behavior in twins and singletons: Is twinship a risk or an advantage? Twin Research, 6, 106–118.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Reich, T., Cloninger, C. R., & Guze, S. B. (1975). The multifactorial model of disease transmission: 1. Description of the model and its use in psychiatry. The British Journal of Psychiatry: The Journal of Mental Science, 127, 1–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rhee, S. H., Hewitt, J. K., Young, S. E., Corley, R. P., Crowley, T. J., and Stallings, M. C. (2003). Genetic and environmental influences on substance initiation, use, and problem use in adolescents. Archives of General Psychiatry, 60, 1256–1264.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rhee, S. H., & Waldman, I. D. (2002). Genetic and environmental influences on antisocial behavior: a meta-analysis of twin and adoption studies. Psychological Bulletin, 128, 490–529.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, J. L., McGrath, J., & Corley, R. P. (2001). The conduct of the study. In R. N. Emde & J. K. Hewitt (Eds.), Infancy to Early Childhood: Genetic and Environmental Influences on Developmental Change (pp. 23–31). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rutter, M., Silberg, J., O'Connor, T., & Simonoff, E. (1999). Genetics and child psychiatry: II Empirical research findings. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 40, 19–55.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Scourfield, J., Rice, F., Thapar, A., Harold, G. T., Martin, N., & McGuffin, P. (2003). Depressive symptoms in children and adolescents: Changing aetiological influences with development. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 44, 968–976.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shaffer, D., Fisher, P., Dulcan, M. K., Davies, M., Piacentini, J., Schwab-Stone, M. E., et al. (1996). The NIMH Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children Version 2.3 (DISC- 2.3): Description, acceptability, prevalence rates, and performance in the MECA Study. Methods for the Epidemiology of Child and Adolescent Mental Disorders Study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 35, 865–877.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sham, P. (1998). Statistics in human genetics. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Silberg, J., Pickles, A., Rutter, M., Hewitt, J., Simonoff, E., Maes, H., et al. (1999). The influence of genetic factors and life stress on depression among adolescent girls. Archives of General Psychiatry, 56, 225–232.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Simonoff, E., Pickles, A., Hervas, A., Silberg, J. L., Rutter, M., & Eaves, L. (1998). Genetic influences on childhood hyperactivity: Contrast effects imply parental rating bias, not sibling interaction. Psychological Medicine, 28, 825–837.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Simonoff, E., Pickles, A., Meyer, J. M., Silberg, J. L., Maes, H. H., Loeber, R., et al. (1997). The Virginia Twin Study of Adolescent Behavioral Development. Influences of age, sex, and impairment on rates of disorder. Archives of General Psychiatry, 54, 801–808.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stallings, M. C., Hewitt, J. K., Lessem, J. M., Young, S. E., Corley, R. P., Mikulich, S. K., et al. (2001). Modeling the familial transmission of alcohol dependence symptom counts in clinical and control family pedigrees. Behavior Genetics, 31, 470.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thapar, A., Harrington, R., & McGuffin, P. (2001). Examining the comorbidity of ADHD-related behaviours and conduct problems using a twin study design. British Journal of Psychiatry, 179, 224–229.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thapar, A., Hervas, A., & McGuffin, P. (1995). Childhood hyperactivity scores are highly heritable and show sibling competition effects: Twin study evidence. Behavior Genetics, 25, 537–544.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thapar, A., & McGuffin, P. (1994). A twin study of depressive symptoms in childhood. British Journal of Psychiatry, 165, 259–265.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Topolski, T. D., Hewitt, J. K., Eaves, L. J., Silberg, J. L., Meyer, J. M., Rutter, M., et al. (1997). Genetic and environmental influences on child reports of manifest anxiety and symptoms of separation anxiety and overanxious disorders: A community-based twin study. Behavior Genetics, 27, 15–28.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • van den Oord, E. J., Koot, H. M., Boomsma, D. I., Verhulst, F. C., & Orlebeke, J. F. (1995). A twin-singleton comparison of problem behaviour in 2–3-year-olds. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 36, 449–458.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • van den Oord, E. J., Simonoff, E., Eaves, L. J., Pickles, A., Silberg, J., & Maes, H. (2000). An evaluation of different approaches for behavior genetic analyses with psychiatric symptom scores. Behavior Genetics, 30, 1–18.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Young, S. E., Stallings, M. C., Corley, R. P., Krauter, K. S., & Hewitt, J. K. (2000). Genetic and environmental influences on behavioral disinhibition. American Journal of Medical Genetics, 96, 684–695.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grants MH43899, HD010333, and DA011015. The authors thank Ms. Sally-Ann Rhea for her assistance in recruitment and interviewing subjects.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, US

    Marissa A. Ehringer, Soo Hyun Rhee, Susan Young, Robin Corley & John K. Hewitt

  2. Department of Integrative Physiology, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, US

    Marissa A. Ehringer

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, US

    Soo Hyun Rhee & John K. Hewitt

  4. Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado, 447 UCB, Boulder, CO, 80309-0447, US

    Marissa A. Ehringer

Authors
  1. Marissa A. Ehringer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Soo Hyun Rhee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Susan Young
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Robin Corley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. John K. Hewitt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marissa A. Ehringer.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ehringer, M.A., Rhee, S.H., Young, S. et al. Genetic and Environmental Contributions to Common Psychopathologies of Childhood and Adolescence: A Study of Twins and Their Siblings. J Abnorm Child Psychol 34, 1–17 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-005-9000-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-005-9000-0

KEY WORDS:

Search

Navigation