We have reported elsewhere on the development of an 8-item Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (OCS) contained in the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) to identify children who meet criteria for DSM-IV ...obsessive-compulsive disorder. Twin studies of obsessive-compulsive disorder have indicated a significant genetic component to its expression.
To determine the relative contributions of genetic and environmental influences on childhood obsessive-compulsive behavior using the CBCL OCS in twin samples.
The CBCL data were received by survey of twins in the Netherlands Twin Registry (NTR) and the Missouri Twin Study (USA/MOTWIN).
General community twin samples.
Participants were 4246 twin pairs aged 7 years, 2841 aged 10 years, and 1562 aged 12 years (who also participated in the study at 7 and 10 years of age) from the NTR and 1461 mixed-age twin pairs (average age, approximately 9 years) from the USA/MOTWIN.
Model fitting to test for genetic and environmental influences, sex differences, and sibling interaction/rater contrast effects on the CBCL OCS.
In each case, the best-fitting model was one that indicated significant additive genetic influences (range, 45%-58%; 95% confidence interval CI, 45%-61%), and unique environmental influences (range, 42%-55%; 95% CI, 39%-55%), with shared environmental influences in the NTR sample aged 12 years (16%). Sex differences were seen in the mixed-age USA/MOTWIN model, but not in the NTR samples. No evidence of dominance, sibling interaction, or rater-contrast effects was seen. These data were relatively consistent across age and cultures.
The CBCL OCS is influenced by genetic factors (approximately 55%) and unique environmental factors (approximately 45%) in the younger sample, with common environmental influences only at 12 years of age. These effects do not vary with differences in sex or sibling interaction/rater contrast effects. Our data reveal higher genetic influences for obsessive-compulsive behavior and do not demonstrate genetic differences across sex.
Adolescence is a critical period for development. Myriad changes have profound and long-lasting implications for youths’ trajectories of economic security, health and well-being in later life. Social ...connection during adolescence plays a foundational role in youths’ successful navigation of challenges at the individual, communal and societal level. This chapter describes the importance of social connection, and the way in which global trends affect relationship behaviour and maintenance during adolescence. It discusses how 21st century social changes in the distal context – climate change, forced displacement, individualisation and new technologies – affect adolescent development, relationships and mental health. Adolescents not only directly experience the outcome of social changes, they will also be the key driver for social change, for better and for worse. This chapter aims to stimulate future research on this important area in order to better understand the effects of today’s challenges for social connection in adolescence and prepare youth for the challenges yet to come.
Psychological well-being constitutes a growing area of research in behavioral genetics. Quantitative behavioral genetic studies have revealed that a substantial part (~40%) of the variation in ...subjective well-being (SWB) could be attributed to genetic influences, supporting the scientific effort to identify genomic regions associated with well-being. However, this field is still in its infancy and the few attempts are showing mixed results. Therefore, this chapter provides an overview of the existing molecular genetic studies involving psychological well-being. The different methodological approaches, such as linkage and association analysis, are discussed for their strengths and limitations as well as their opportunities. In general, most studies were likely underpowered to detect genetic effects associated with well-being, a phenotype that is expected to be influenced by many genes with small effect sizes. However, a GWAS (>100K) is in the pipeline and will appear in the near future.
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