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. 2015 Nov;45(6):610-21.
doi: 10.1007/s10519-015-9759-x. Epub 2015 Oct 19.

Genetic and Environmental Contributions to Behavioral Stability and Change in Children 6-36 months of Age Using Louisville Twin Study Data

Deborah Winders Davis  1 , Deborah Finkel  2 , Eric Turkheimer  3 , William Dickens  4
Affiliations

Genetic and Environmental Contributions to Behavioral Stability and Change in Children 6-36 months of Age Using Louisville Twin Study Data

Deborah Winders Davis et al. Behav Genet. 2015 Nov.

Abstract

The Infant Behavior Record (IBR) from the Bayley Scales of Infant Development has been used to study behavioral development since the 1960s. Matheny (1983) examined behavioral development at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months from the Louisville Twin Study (LTS). The extracted temperament scales included Task Orientation, Affect-Extraversion, and Activity. He concluded that monozygotic twins were more similar than same-sex dizygotic twins on these dimensions. Since this seminal work was published, a larger LTS sample and more advanced analytical methods are available. In the current analyses, Choleksy decomposition was applied to behavioral data (n = 1231) from twins 6-36 months. Different patterns of genetic continuity vs genetic innovations were identified for each IBR scale. Single common genetic and shared environmental factors explained cross-age twin similarity in the Activity scale. Multiple shared environmental factors and a single genetic factor coming on line at age 18 months contributed to Affect-Extraversion. A single shared environmental factor and multiple genetic factors explained cross-age twin similarity in Task Orientation.

Keywords: Behavior; Childhood; Longitudinal; Louisville Twin Study; Twin studies.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Cholesky model of latent additive genetic factors influence behavior at ages 6 through 36 months. The full model included C6 through C36 and E6 through E36.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Path diagram representing results for the best-fitting model for Activity: solid lines indicate significant path coefficients and dashed lines indicated nonsignificant path coefficients. The associated path coefficients and confidence intervals are reported in Supplemental Table 1.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Path diagram representing results for the best-fitting model for Affect Extraversion: solid lines indicate significant path coefficients and dashed lines indicated nonsignificant path coefficients. The associated path coefficients and confidence intervals are reported in Supplemental Table 2.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Path diagram representing results for the best-fitting model for Task Orientation: solid lines indicate significant path coefficients and dashed lines indicated nonsignificant path coefficients. The associated path coefficients and confidence intervals are reported in Supplemental Table 3.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Standardized variance components estimated from the best-fitting model for each IBR factor: h2 = heritability, c2 = shared environment, e2 = nonshared environment.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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