Citation

Schulz-Heik RJ, Rhee SH, Silvern LE, Haberstick BC, Hopfer CJ, Lessem JM, Hewitt JK. Behav. Genet. 2010; 40(3): 338-348.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, University of Colorado, UCB 345, Boulder, CO 80309, USA. jay.schulz-heik@colorado.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10519-009-9324-6

PMID

20024671

PMCID

PMC3222931

Abstract

It is often assumed that childhood maltreatment causes conduct problems via an environmentally mediated process. However, the association may be due alternatively to either a nonpassive gene-environment correlation, in which parents react to children's genetically-influenced conduct problems by maltreating them, or a passive gene-environment correlation, in which parents' tendency to engage in maltreatment and children's conduct problems are both influenced by a hereditary vulnerability to antisocial behavior (i.e. genetic mediation). The present study estimated the contribution of these processes to the association between maltreatment and conduct problems. Bivariate behavior genetic analyses were conducted on approximately 1,650 twin and sibling pairs drawn from a large longitudinal study of adolescent health (Add Health). The correlation between maltreatment and conduct problems was small; much of the association between maltreatment and conduct problems was due to a nonpassive gene-environment correlation. Results were more consistent with the hypothesis that parents respond to children's genetically-influenced conduct problems by maltreating them than the hypothesis that maltreatment causes conduct problems.

Language: en