Genetic Associations Between Executive Functions and a General Factor of Psychopathology

Harden, K. Paige; Engelhardt, Laura E.; Mann, Frank C.; Patterson, Megan W.; Grotzinger, Andrew D.; Savicki, Stephanie Louise; Thibodeaux, Megan L.; Freis, Samantha M; Tackett, Jennifer L.; Church, Jessica A.; Tucker‐Drob, Elliot M.

doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2019.05.006

Cited by 74 publications

(89 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…It is important to note that both twin and molecular genetic studies suggest that the general factor of psychopathology is moderately heritable 53,54 . Furthermore, two twin studies have determined that both measures of negative emotionality 47 and of executive functions 55 share their genetic influences with the general factor of psychopathology in children and adolescents. These findings strengthen the view that high negative emotionality and deficits in executive functions are at least part of what constitutes the non-specific tendency to develop psychopathology that is captured by the general factor.…”

Section: Cognitive Abilities Including Executive Functionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hierarchical models of psychopathology: empirical support, implications, and remaining issues

et al. 2021

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There is an ongoing revolution in psychology and psychiatry that will likely change how we conceptualize, study and treat psychological problems. Many theorists now support viewing psychopathology as consisting of continuous dimensions rather than discrete diagnostic categories. Indeed, recent papers have proposed comprehensive taxonomies of psychopathology dimensions to replace the DSM and ICD taxonomies of categories. The proposed dimensional taxonomies, which portray psychopathology as hierarchically organized correlated dimensions, are now well supported at phenotypic levels. Multiple studies show that both a general factor of psychopathology at the top of the hierarchy and specific factors at lower levels predict different functional outcomes. Our analyses of data on a large representative sample of child and adolescent twins suggested the causal hypothesis that phenotypic correlations among dimensions of psychopathology are the result of many familial influences being pleiotropic. That is, most genetic variants and shared environmental factors are hypothesized to non‐specifically influence risk for multiple rather than individual dimensions of psychopathology. In contrast, person‐specific experiences tend to be related to individual dimensions. This hierarchical causal hypothesis has been supported by both large‐scale family and molecular genetic studies. Current research focuses on three issues. First, the field has not settled on a preferred statistical model for studying the hierarchy of causes and phenotypes. Second, in spite of encouraging progress, the neurobiological correlates of the hierarchy of dimensions of psychopathology are only partially described. Third, although there are potentially important clinical implications of the hierarchical model, insufficient research has been conducted to date to recommend evidence‐based clinical practices.

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Section: Cognitive Abilities Including Executive Functionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hierarchical models of psychopathology: empirical support, implications, and remaining issues

et al. 2021

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“…Beginning in 1916 and peaking in the last decade, twin and family studies have revealed a general genetic factor "p" that underlies risk for all human psychopathology [1][2][3] ; and which is strongly correlated with personality and intelligence 4,5 . This understanding is consistent with more recent genome wide association studies (GWASs) in humans 2 and dogs 6,7 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genome scans of dog behavior implicate a gene network underlying psychopathology in mammals, including humans

Zapata

Hecht

Serpell

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Genetic studies show a general factor associated with all human personality and psychopathology, but its basis is unknown. We performed genome scans of 17 normal and problem behaviors in three multi-breed dog cohorts. 21 of 90 mapped loci were supported for the same, or a related, trait in a second cohort. Several of those loci were also associated with brain structure differences across breeds; and five of the respective top-candidate genes are also associated with human brain structure and function. More broadly, the geneset of canine behavioral scans is supported by enrichment for genes mapped for human behavior, personality, psychopathology and brain structure. The biology implicated includes, neurogenesis, axon guidance, angiogenesis, brain structure, alternative splicing, disease association, Hox-family transcription factors, and subiculum expression. Because dog behavior is correlated with body size, we isolated the effect of body size/height in the dog mapping and in the comparative human UK Biobank analyses. Our dog and human findings are consistent with pleiotropy of diverse brain traits with energy metabolism, height, longevity and reproduction. We propose a genetic network underlies neuron birth and development across the life course, and is associated with evolutionary adaptation of behavior and the general psychopathology factor. This understanding has implications for all common psychiatric disorders, and suggests how their risk could be impacted by environmental effects on the IGF1/growth factor signaling-PI3K-AKT-mTOR axis.

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“…Children vary widely in their abilities to deploy cognitive resources in support of complex behavior, reasoning, and decision making. Individual differences in children's cognitive development and academic achievement have immediate consequences for their mental health (Deary, Strand, Smith, & Fernandes, ; Gottfredson & Deary, ) and life course consequences for their psychological, physical, and economic wellbeing (Deary, ; Harden et al., ; Koenen et al., ). Given the importance of cognitive skills to a wide variety of social, economic, and health outcomes, researchers have long been interested in investigating the sources of these individual differences, with the hope of identifying etiological factors that are amenable to intervention.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accounting for the shared environment in cognitive abilities and academic achievement with measured socioecological contexts

Engelhardt

Church

Harden

et al. 2018

Developmental Science

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Behavioral and molecular genetic research has established that child cognitive ability and academic performance are substantially heritable, but genetic variation does not account for all of the stratification of cognitive and academic outcomes across families. Which specific contexts and experiences contribute to these shared environmental influences on cognitive ability and academic achievement? Using an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse sample of N = 1728 twins ages 7-20 from the Texas Twin Project, we identified specific measured family, school, and neighborhood socioecological contexts that statistically accounted for latent shared environmental variance in cognitive abilities and academic skills. Composite measures of parent socioeconomic status (SES), school demographic composition, and neighborhood SES accounted for moderate proportions of variation in IQ and achievement. Total variance explained by the multilevel contexts ranged from 15% to 22%. The influence of family SES on IQ and achievement overlapped substantially with the influence of school and neighborhood predictors. Together with race, the measured socioecological contexts explained 100% of shared environmental influences on IQ and approximately 79% of shared environmental influences on both verbal comprehension and reading ability. In contrast, nontrivial proportions of shared environmental variation in math performance were left unexplained. We highlight the potential utility of constructing "polyenvironmental risk scores" in an effort to better predict developmental outcomes and to quantify children's and adolescents' interrelated networks of experiences. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/77E_DctFsr0.

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Genetic Associations Between Executive Functions and a General Factor of Psychopathology

Cited by 74 publications

References 63 publications

Hierarchical models of psychopathology: empirical support, implications, and remaining issues

Hierarchical models of psychopathology: empirical support, implications, and remaining issues

Genome scans of dog behavior implicate a gene network underlying psychopathology in mammals, including humans

Accounting for the shared environment in cognitive abilities and academic achievement with measured socioecological contexts

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