Biomedical subjects

Fruhling V Rijsdijk

Publications and source records attributed to Fruhling V Rijsdijk.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

A common genetic factor explains the association between psychopathic personality and antisocial behavior.

BACKGROUND: Both psychopathic personality traits and antisocial behavior are influenced by genetic as well as environmental factors. However, little is known about how genetic and environmental factors contribute to the associations between the psychopathic personality traits and antisocial behavior. METHOD: Data were drawn from a longitudinal population-based twin sample including all 1480 twin pairs born in Sweden between May 1985 and December 1986. The twins responded to mailed self-report questionnaires at two occasions: 1999 (twins 13-14 years old), and 2002 (twins 16-17 years old). RESULTS: A common genetic factor loaded substantially on both psychopathic personality traits and antisocial behavior, whereas a common shared environmental factor loaded exclusively on antisocial behavior. CONCLUSIONS: The genetic overlap between psychopathic personality traits and antisocial behavior may reflect a genetic vulnerability to externalizing psychopathology. The finding of shared environmental influences only in antisocial behavior suggests an etiological distinction between psychopathic personality dimensions and antisocial behavior. Knowledge about temperamental correlates to antisocial behavior is important for identification of susceptibility genes, as well as for possible prevention through identification of at-risk children early in life.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Further considerations for power in sibling interaction models.

Sibling interactions aim to determine whether siblings' phenotype have an impact on one another. We explore the power to detect sibling interaction term in twin models with the inclusion of singletons (only children). Furthermore, we develop the existing work on the improvement of power from the addition of unrelateds (adoptive or step-siblings). We find that singletons are considerably more powerful under cooperative (positive or imitation) than competitive (negative) interaction. Additionally, the power from URs is attenuated when common environment is part of the genetic model.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2003

Strong genetic effects on cross-situational antisocial behaviour among 5-year-old children according to mothers, teachers, examiner-observers, and twins' self-reports.

BACKGROUND: Early childhood antisocial behaviour is a strong prognostic indicator for poor adult mental health. Thus, information about its etiology is needed. Genetic etiology is unknown because most research with young children focuses on environmental risk factors, and the few existing studies of young twins used only mothers' reports of behaviour, which may be biased. METHOD: We investigated genetic influences on antisocial behaviour in a representative-plus-high-risk sample of 1116 pairs of 5-year-old twins using data from four independent sources: mothers, teachers, examiner-observers previously unacquainted with the children, and the children themselves. RESULTS: Children's antisocial behaviour was reliably measured by all four informants; no bias was detected in mothers', teachers', examiners', or children's reports. Variation in antisocial behaviour that was agreed upon by all informants, and thus was pervasive across settings, was influenced by genetic factors (82%) and experiences specific to each child (18%). Variation in antisocial behaviour that was specific to each informant was meaningful variation, as it was also influenced by genetic factors (from 33% for the children's report to 71% for the teachers' report). CONCLUSIONS: This study and four others of very young twins show that genetic risks contribute strongly to population variation in antisocial behaviour that emerges in early childhood. In contrast, genetic risk is known to be relatively modest for adolescent antisocial behaviour, suggesting that the early-childhood form has a distinct etiology, particularly if it is pervasive across situations.

Antisocial Personality Disorder↗