A twin study of genetic and environmental contributions to gender differences in traits delineating personality disorder

Abstract

The present study applied biometric genetic analyses to determine whether traits delineating personality disorders are in¯uenced by gender-speci®c genetic and environmental in¯uences. The sample consisted of 681 volunteer general population twin pairs (128 monozygotic male, 208 monozygotic female, 75 dizygotic males, 174 dizygotic females, and 96 dizygotic opposite-sex pairs). All twin pairs completed the Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology (DAPP-BQ) which yields 18 basic and four highorder dimensions of personality dysfunction. Heritability analyses showed that all dimensions except Submissiveness in males, and Cognitive Dysfunction, Compulsivity, Conduct Problems, Suspiciousness, and Self-harm in females were signi®cantly heritable. Sex-by-genotype analyses suggested that the genetic in¯uences underlying all but four DAPP-BQ dimensions (Stimulus Seeking, Callousness, Rejection, and Insecure Attachment) were speci®c to each gender, whereas the in¯uence of the environment was found to be the same in both genders across all dimensions. All four higher-order dimensions were also heritable across sex and in common to both genders except female dissocial personality dimensions in females, for which no heritable basis was found.

Temperament as a Unifying Basis for Personality and Psychopathology.

“…Beginning with the seminal study of Tellegen et al (1988), however, research has shown consistently that the effect of shared environment is negligible for most traits, that the predominant etiological factors in personality are genetic and unshared environment. This finding has been replicated with a variety of personality measures including the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (Krueger, 2000), California Psychological Inventory (Bouchard, McGue, Hur, & Horn, 1998), the TCI (Gillespie, Cloninger, Heath, & Martin, 2003), and the DAPP (Jang, Livesley, & Vernon, 1998), as well as scales from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory and Zuckerman's Sensation-Seeking Scales (Mustanski, Viken, Kaprio, & Rose, 2003).…”

Psychometric study of the brazilian version of the personality inventory for DSM-5–paper-and-pencil version

“…At the third level, the grouping is similar to the propositions associated with the study of temperament ( 86 ), in which three dimensions are highlighted: Extraversion/urgency (represented by Detachment in the current structure), Effortful Control (represented by Disinhibition), and Negative Affect. At the fourth level, Livesley et al ( 87 ) proposed that the groupings can be represented by Emotional Dysregulation traits (which would correspond to facets linked to Negative Affect), Dissocial Behavior (linked to Antagonism), Inhibition (linked to Detachment), and Compulsiveness (basically represented by a lack of Rigid Perfectionism in the Disinhibition domain). Finally, at the fifth level, we have a model that is close to the maladaptive variant of the Big Five Model ( 88 ), as proposed by the DSM−5 ( 1 ), or the Personality Psychopathology model – Five [PSY−5; ( 89 ): Aggressive, Psychotic, Constraint, Negative Emotion, Extraversion/Positive Emotion].…”

A population based twin study of DSM–5 maladaptive personality domains.

“…Genetic influences on the lower-order DAPP facets were generally around 40–50%, although they ranged from a low of 0% (conduct problems) to 64% (narcissism; Livesley, Jang, Jackson, & Vernon, 1993). To our knowledge there has been only one study examining sex differences in the etiology of the DAPP domains; in that study, the authors found sex-specific effects on all higher-order domains and 14 of the 18 lower-order scales (all but Stimulus Seeking, Rejection, Callousness, and Insecure Attachment; Jang, Livesley, & Vernon, 1998). The authors acknowledge that their findings conflict with other research suggesting fewer sex differences for normative personality traits.…”