The Association Between Conduct Problems and Maltreatment: Testing Genetic and Environmental Mediation

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.

Associations between parental posttraumatic stress disorder and both offspring internalizing problems and parental aggression within the National Comorbidity Survey-Replication

“…While such a prospective test will be valuable, it is also important to note that a meditational model in which parental PTSD leads to aggression, which leads to negative child outcomes, is likely overly simplistic. For instance, such a model does not account for "child-driven effects," which refer to offspring characteristics (e.g., temperament, behavior, gender) that evince particular parenting behaviors (e.g., Anderson, Lytton, & Romney, 1986;Ge et al, 1996) or the effects of shared genetic heritability on both parenting and child outcomes (e.g., Shulz-Heik et al, 2010). Further, these processes play out within a larger context comprised of myriad variables (e.g., poverty) that shape distinct developmental trajectories in terms of child outcomes (e.g., Bronfenbrenner, 1972Bronfenbrenner, , 1979O'Connor, 2002;Zielinski & Bradshaw, 2006).…”

Accounting for the association between childhood maltreatment and alcohol-use disorders in males: a twin study

“…'), and serious neglect (`Were you ever seriously neglected as a child?'). This operationalization of childhood maltreatment (combining physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect) is frequently used in maltreatment research (Ireland & Widom, 1994; Schulz-Heik et al 2009; Topitzes et al 2009; Zielinski, 2009). Consistent with many prior studies of childhood maltreatment, we included childhood maltreatment if it occurred prior to age 15 years (e.g.…”

Tests of a direct effect of childhood abuse on adult borderline personality disorder traits: A longitudinal discordant twin design.

“…If genetic mediation accounts for the CA-BPD association, then INT and EXT are heritable characteristics that might account for the CA-BPD association. Twin studies have shown that INT, EXT, and CA are each influenced by both genetic and shared environment factors (Bergen, Gardner, & Kendler, 2007; Bornovalova, Hicks, Iacono, & McGue, 2010; Burt, Krueger, McGue, & Iacono, 2001, 2003; Burt, McGue, Krueger, & Iacono, 2005a; Gjone, Stevenson, Sundet, & Eilertsen, 1996; Hicks, Krueger, Iacono, McGue, & Patrick, 2004; Kendler, Prescott, Myers, & Neale, 2003; Schulz-Heik et al, 2010) with heritability being moderate to high for INT and EXT and modest for CA (Jaffee, Caspi, Moffitt, & Taylor, 2004; Lyons et al, 1993; Schulz-Heik et al, 2010; Stein, Jang, Taylor, Vernon, & Livesley, 2002). Research has also demonstrated that genetic mediation can account for the association between childhood EXT and maladaptive parenting practices and abuse (Burt et al, 2003; Burt et al, 2005a; Schulz-Heik et al, 2010), and between adult violence and stress exposure with BPD (Distel et al, 2011).…”