Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

A Twin Study of ADHD Symptoms in Early Adolescence: Hyperactivity-impulsivity and Inattentiveness Show Substantial Genetic Overlap but Also Genetic Specificity

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

Abstract

A previous paper in this journal revealed substantial genetic overlap between the ADHD dimensions of hyperactivity-impulsivity and inattentiveness in a sample of 8-year old twins drawn from a UK-representative population sample. Four years later, when the twins were 12 years old, more than 5,500 pairs drawn from the same sample were rated again on the DSM-IV based Revised Conners’ Parent Rating Scale to assess symptoms on both ADHD dimensions. Heritabilities were high (around 70%) for both hyperactivity-impulsivity and inattentiveness and evidence for etiological sex differences was absent. The critical finding was a genetic correlation of 0.55, indicating that hyperactivity-impulsivity and inattentiveness are substantially influenced by the same genes but that the two dimensions also show large and significant unique genetic effects. These results in early adolescence confirm our findings in middle childhood, providing evidence for substantial genetic overlap as well as genetic heterogeneity of the ADHD dimensions. Future genetic studies should investigate the ADHD dimensions separately.

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

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Akaike, H. (1987). Factor analysis and AIC. Psychometrika, 52, 317–332.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Association, A. P. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington: American Psychiatric Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brassett-Harknett, A., & Butler, N. (2007). Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: an overview of the etiology and a review of the literature relating to the correlates and lifecourse outcomes for men and women. Clinical Psychology Review, 27, 188–210.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Burt, S. A. (2009). Rethinking environmental contributions to child and adolescent psychopathology: a meta-analysis of shared environmental influences. Psychological Bulletin, 135, 608–637.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Burt, S. A. (2010). Are there shared environmental influences on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder? Reply to Wood, Buitelaar, Rijsdijk, Asherson, and Kunsti (2010). Psychological Bulletin, 136, 341–343.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Caron, C., & Rutter, M. (1991). Comorbidity in child psychopathology: concepts, issues and research strategies. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 32, 1063–1080.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Conners, C. K., Sitarenios, G., Parker, J. D., & Epstein, J. N. (1998). The revised Conners’ Parent Rating Scale (CPRS-R): factor structure, reliability, and criterion validity. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 26, 257–268.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eaves, L., Rutter, M., Silberg, J. L., Shillady, L., Maes, H., & Pickles, A. (2000). Genetic and environmental causes of covariation in interview assessments of disruptive behavior in child and adolescent twins. Behavior Genetics, 30, 321–334.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Faraone, S. V., Perlis, R. H., Doyle, A. E., Smoller, J. W., Goralnick, J. J., Holmgren, M. A., et al. (2005). Molecular genetics of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 57, 1313–1323.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Finkbeiner, C. (1979). Estimation for the multiple factor model when data are missing. Psychometrika, 44, 409–420.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, B., Powell, J., Ball, D. M., Hill, L., Craig, I. W., & Plomin, R. (1997). DNA by mail: an inexpensive and noninvasive method for collecting DNA samples from widely dispersed populations. Behavior Genetics, 27, 251–257.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Haberstick, B. C., Timberlake, D., Hopfer, C. J., Lessem, J. M., Ehringer, M. A., & Hewitt, J. K. (2008). Genetic and environmental contributions to retrospectively reported DSM-IV childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Psychological Medicine, 38, 1057–1066.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kovas, Y., & Plomin, R. (2006). Generalist genes: implications for cognitive sciences. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10, 198–203.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kovas, Y., & Plomin, R. (2007). Learning abilities and disabilities: generalist genes, specialist environments. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16, 284–288.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kuntsi, J., & Stevenson, J. (2000). Hyperactivity in children: a focus on genetic research and psychological theories. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 3, 1–23.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kuntsi, J., Rijsdijk, F., Ronald, A., Asherson, P., & Plomin, R. (2005). Genetic influences on the stability of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms from early to middle childhood. Biological Psychiatry, 57, 647–654.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Larsson, H., Lichtenstein, P., & Larsson, J. O. (2006). Genetic contributions to the development of ADHD subtypes from childhood to adolescence. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 45, 973–981.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Levy, F., Hay, D. A., McStephen, M., & Wood, C. (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 

  • Levy, F., Hay, D. A., & Bennett, K. S. (2006). Genetics of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a current review and future prospects. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 53, 5–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGue, M., & Bouchard, T. J., Jr. (1984). Adjustment of twin data for the effects of age and sex. Behavior Genetics, 14, 325–343.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McLoughlin, G., Ronald, A., Kuntsi, J., Asherson, P., & Plomin, R. (2007). Genetic support for the dual nature of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: substantial genetic overlap between the inattentive and hyperactive-impulsive components. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 35, 999–1008.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nadder, T. S., Silberg, J. L., Rutter, M., Maes, H. H., & Eaves, L. J. (2001). Comparison of multiple measures of ADHD symptomatology: a multivariate genetic analysis. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 42, 475–486.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nadder, T. S., Rutter, M., Silberg, J. L., Maes, H. H., & Eaves, L. J. (2002). Genetic effects on the variation and covariation of attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional-defiant disorder/conduct disorder (Odd/CD) symptomatologies across informant and occasion of measurement. Psychological Medicine, 32, 39–53.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Neale, M. C., Boker, S. M., Xie, G., & Mae, H. H. (2006a). Mx: Statistical modeling (7th ed.). VCU Box 900126, Richmond, VA 23298: Department of Psychiatry.

  • Neale, M. C., Roysamb, E., & Jacobson, K. (2006b). Multivariate genetic analysis of sex limitation and G x E interaction. Twin Research and Human Genetics, 9, 481–489.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nikolas, M. A., & Burt, S. A. (2010). Genetic and environmental influences on ADHD symptom dimensions of inattention and hyperactivity: a meta-analysis. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 119, 1–17.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Oliver, B., & Plomin, R. (2007). Twins Early Development Study (TEDS): a multivariate, longitudinal genetic investigation of language, cognition and behaviour problems from childhood through adolescence. Twin Research and Human Genetics, 10, 96–105.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pelham, W. E., Gnagy, E. M., Greenslade, K. E., & Milich, R. (1992). Teacher ratings of DSM-III-R symptoms for the disruptive behavior disorders. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 31, 210–218.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Plomin, R., & Kovas, Y. (2005). Generalist genes and learning disabilities. Psychological Bulletin, 131, 592–617.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Plomin, R., DeFries, J. C., McClearn, G. E., & McGuffin, P. (2008). Behavioral genetics (5th ed.). New York: Worth Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raftery, A. E. (1995). Bayesian model selection in social research. In P. V. Marsden (Ed.), Sociological methodology (pp. 111–163). Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rasmussen, E. R., Neuman, R. J., Heath, A. C., Levy, F., Hay, D. A., & Todd, R. D. (2004). Familial clustering of latent class and DSM-IV defined attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) subtypes. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45, 589–598.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rietveld, M. J., Hudziak, J. J., Bartels, M., Van Beijsterveldt, C. E., & Boomsma, D. I. (2003a). Heritability of attention problems in children: I. Cross-sectional results from a study of twins, age 3–12 years. American Journal of Medical Genetics. Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics, 117B, 102–113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rietveld, M. J., Posthuma, D., Dolan, C. V., & Boomsma, D. I. (2003b). ADHD: sibling interaction or dominance: an evaluation of statistical power. Behavior Genetics, 33, 247–255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ronald, A., Simonoff, E., Kuntsi, J., Asherson, P., & Plomin, R. (2008). Evidence for overlapping genetic influences on autistic and ADHD behaviours in a community twin sample. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49, 535–542.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Saudino, K. J., Ronald, A., & Plomin, R. (2005). Rater effects in the etiology of behavior problems in 7-year-old twins: parent ratings and ratings by same and different teachers. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 33, 113–130.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schmitz, S., & Mrazek, D. A. (2001). Genetic and environmental influences on the associations between attention problems and other problem behaviors. Twin Research, 4, 453–458.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schultz, M. R., Rabi, K., Faraone, S. V., Kremen, W., & Lyons, M. J. (2006). Efficacy of retrospective recall of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms: a twin study. Twin Research and Human Genetics, 9, 220–232.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sherman, D. K., Iacono, W. G., & McGue, M. K. (1997). Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder dimensions: a twin study of inattention and impulsivity-hyperactivity. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 745–753.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Todd, R. D., Rasmussen, E. R., Neuman, R. J., Reich, W., Hudziak, J. J., Bucholz, K. K., et al. (2001). Familiality and heritability of subtypes of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in a population sample of adolescent female twins. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 1891–1898.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wood, A. C., Rijsdijk, F., Asherson, P., & Kuntsi, J. (2009). Hyperactive-impulsive symptom scores and oppositional behaviours reflect alternate manifestations of a single liability. Behavior Genetics, 39, 447–460.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wood, A. C., Buitelaar, J., Rijsdijk, F., Asherson, P., & Kuntsi, J. (2010). Rethinking shared environment as a source of variance underlying attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms: Comment on Burt (2009). Psychological Bulletin, 136, 331–340.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The Twins Early Development Study is supported by the United Kingdom Medical Research Council (G0500079). We are grateful to the Twins Early Development Study families for their participation and support for more than a decade.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. King’s College London, MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF, UK

    Corina U. Greven, Frühling V. Rijsdijk & Robert Plomin

Authors
  1. Corina U. Greven
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Frühling V. Rijsdijk
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Robert Plomin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Corina U. Greven.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Greven, C.U., Rijsdijk, F.V. & Plomin, R. A Twin Study of ADHD Symptoms in Early Adolescence: Hyperactivity-impulsivity and Inattentiveness Show Substantial Genetic Overlap but Also Genetic Specificity. J Abnorm Child Psychol 39, 265–275 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-010-9451-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-010-9451-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation