Biomedical subjects

Robert F Krueger

Publications and source records attributed to Robert F Krueger.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2026

Robust inference and correlates from genetic associations with personality.

Personality traits describe stable differences in how people think, feel and behave, and how they interact with and experience their social and physical environments1,2. Many questions remain unanswered about associations between DNA and personality traits, such as their robustness, their generalizability and the biological and social pathways through which they act. Here we meta-analyse data across 46 cohorts comprising 611,037 to 1.14 million participants with European-like and African-like genomes for genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of the Big Five personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experience), and data from up to 50,725 participants for within-family GWAS. We identify 1,260 lead genetic variants associated with personality, including 824 novel variants3. Common genetic variants explain a moderate 4.8-9.3% of the variance in measures of each trait, and 9.3-13.3% among instruments with typical measurement reliability. Genetic associations with personality are highly consistent but not identical across geography, reporter (self versus close other), age group and measurement instrument, and we find minimal spousal assortment for personality in recent history. In contrast to many other social and behavioural traits4,5, within-family GWAS and polygenic index analyses indicate that genetic associations with personality are minimally confounded by the shared family environment. Polygenic prediction, genetic correlation and Mendelian randomization analyses indicate that personality traits have widespread, potentially causal associations with consequential behaviours and life outcomes. Overall, we find that the genetic architecture of personality is robustly generalizable, minimally confounded and widely relevant to human experience.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2025

An Updated Polygenic Index Repository: Expanded Phenotypes, New Cohorts, and Improved Causal Inference.

Polygenic indexes (PGIs) - DNA-based predictors of individual phenotypes - have become essential tools across biomedical and social sciences. We introduce Version 2 of the Polygenic Index Repository, which expands phenotype coverage from 47 to 61, increases the number of participating datasets from 11 to 20, and adopts a more consistent and improved methodology for PGI construction. For 16 phenotypes, we leverage summary statistics from an updated GWAS meta-analysis with greater statistical power compared to the original release, thereby improving the PGI's predictive power. To improve power for family-based analyses, we provide imputed parental PGIs in all datasets with first-degree relatives and offer a framework for interpreting results from analyses that control for parental PGIs. We illustrate the utility of parental PGIs using two applications: (1) comparing PGI associations with and without parental PGI controls for all phenotypes in two Repository datasets with family data, and (2) for BMI and diastolic blood pressure, exploring the contribution of causal versus non-causal components of PGI associations to the imperfect portability of PGIs across subgroups within a genetic ancestry. Collectively, the updates enhance predictive performance, broaden the Repository's scope, and introduce novel resources that reduce confounding bias and improve interpretability.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2006

The feasibility and need for dimensional psychiatric diagnoses.

BACKGROUND: It is our contention that both categorical and dimensional approaches to diagnosis are important for clinical work and research alike, and that each approach has its drawbacks and advantages. As the processes toward developing DSM-V and ICD-11 progress, we suggest that another exclusively categorical revision of psychiatric taxonomies will no longer be sufficient and that adding a dimensional component is a necessary step if these taxonomies are to continue serving the future clinical and research needs of psychiatry as they have so effectively done in the past. METHOD: We begin the paper with a review of terminology related to categories and dimensions and briefly review literature on advantages and disadvantages of both approaches. RESULTS: A review of relevant literature supports both the need for and feasibility of augmenting traditional categorical diagnoses with dimensional information. CONCLUSION: We conclude with a proposal for preserving traditional categorical diagnostic definitions, but adding a dimensional component that would be reflective of and directly referable back to the categorical definitions. We also offer a specific proposal for adding a dimensional component to official taxonomies such as the DSM and the ICD in a way that fully preserves the traditional categorical approach.

Feasibility Studies↗

PubMed2006

Timing of menarche and the origins of conduct disorder.

CONTEXT: Precocious onset of menses (ie, age < or =11 years) has repeatedly been identified as a risk factor for higher rates of delinquency or conduct disorder (CD) in girls. Although this association is often conceptualized as environmentally mediated (via processes such as affiliation of early-menstruating youth with older, more deviant peers), such conclusions are premature as biological and genetic explanations have yet to be fully considered. OBJECTIVE: To uncover the origins of the association between CD and timing of menarche. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: The sample consisted of a population-based birth cohort of 708 mid-adolescent female twins assessed as part of the ongoing Minnesota Twin Family Study. We conducted 2 sets of analyses: standard bivariate analyses to uncover possible common genes and moderator analyses to evaluate possible moderation of genetic influences on CD by timing of menarche. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Conduct disorder was assessed via individual semistructured interviews with mothers and adolescents. Menarcheal status and age at menarche were assessed via the Pubertal Development Scale. RESULTS: The results argued against common genetic influences but did provide evidence of etiological moderation of CD by timing of menarche. The heritability of CD was strongest (67%) in girls with average timing of menarche (ie, age 12-13 years) and substantially weaker (8%) in those with early onset. Those with late initiation of menses (ie, age >13 years) similarly exhibited weaker genetic influences (29%). Shared environmental influences showed the opposite pattern, as they were far stronger for those with precocious and delayed onset vs those with average onset. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide indirect support for psychosocial interpretations of the impact of precocious menarche and, to a lesser extent, delayed menarche on CD development. Further, they lend support to the notion that in some cases, genetic influences on psychopathology may be strongest in the "average, expectable" environment.

Age Factors↗

PubMed2006

Differential parent-child relationships and adolescent externalizing symptoms: cross-lagged analyses within a monozygotic twin differences design.

Research has indicated that differential parental treatment is linked to differences in externalizing symptomology (EXT) across siblings, even those siblings who are genetically identical. However, the direction of causation and longitudinal significance of this relationship remains unclear. Thus, in the present study, the authors examined 486 monozygotic twin pairs, assessed at ages 11, 14, and 17 years, within a cross-lagged twin differences design. Results revealed that differential parent-child conflict at age 11 years uniquely contributed to differential sibling EXT 3 years later but only in the most discordant twin pairs. In the full, unselected sample, this relationship was not significant. These results suggest that markedly different parent-child conflict has an environmentally mediated impact on child behavior through mid-adolescence, findings that yield insights into environmental influences on behavior.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Continuity and change in psychopathic traits as measured via normal-range personality: a longitudinal-biometric study.

The discriminant validity of the interpersonal-affective and social deviance traits of psychopathy has been well documented. However, few studies have explored whether these traits follow distinct or comparable developmental paths. The present study used the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (A. Tellegen, in press) to examine the development of the psychopathic traits of Fearless Dominance (i.e., interpersonal-affective) and Impulsive Antisociality (i.e., social deviance) from late adolescence to early adulthood in a longitudinal-epidemiological sample of male and female twins. Results from mean- and individual-level analyses revealed stability in Fearless Dominance from late adolescence to early adulthood, whereas Impulsive Antisociality declined over this developmental period. In addition, biometric findings indicated greater genetic contributions to stability in these traits and greater nonshared environmental contributions to their change over time. Collectively, these findings suggest distinct developmental trends for psychopathic traits from late adolescence to early adulthood.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

How money buys happiness: genetic and environmental processes linking finances and life satisfaction.

Measures of wealth such as income and assets are commonly considered to be objective measures of environmental circumstances, making direct contributions to life satisfaction. Here, the authors explored the accuracy of this assumption. Using a nationwide sample of 719 twin pairs from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States, the authors first noted the relative independence of most perceptions about financial status from measures of actual wealth. They then demonstrated that perceived financial situation and control over life completely mediated the association between measures of actual wealth and life satisfaction. Finally, they showed that financial resources appeared to protect life satisfaction from environmental shocks. In addition, control appeared to act as a mechanism translating life circumstances into life satisfaction.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Information-theoretic latent distribution modeling: distinguishing discrete and continuous latent variable models.

Distinguishing between discrete and continuous latent variable distributions has become increasingly important in numerous domains of behavioral science. Here, the authors explore an information-theoretic approach to latent distribution modeling, in which the ability of latent distribution models to represent statistical information in observed data is emphasized. The authors conclude that loss of statistical information with a decrease in the number of latent values provides an attractive basis for comparing discrete and continuous latent variable models. Theoretical considerations as well as the results of 2 Monte Carlo simulations indicate that information theory provides a sound basis for modeling latent distributions and distinguishing between discrete and continuous latent variable models in particular.

Behavioral Sciences↗

PubMed2006

P300 amplitude as an indicator of externalizing in adolescent males.

Reduced P300 amplitude is reliably found in individuals with a personal or family history of alcohol problems. However, alcoholism is part of a broader externalizing spectrum that includes other substance use and antisocial disorders. We hypothesized that reduced P300 is an indicator of the common factor that underlies disorders within this spectrum. Community males (N=969) were assessed at age 17 in a visual oddball task. Externalizing was defined as the common factor underlying symptoms of alcohol dependence, drug dependence, nicotine dependence, conduct disorder, and adult antisocial behavior. A robust association was found between reduced P300 amplitude and the externalizing factor, and this relation accounted for links between specific externalizing disorders and P300. Our findings indicate that reduced P300 amplitude is an indicator of the broad neurobiological vulnerability that underlies disorders within the externalizing spectrum.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Categorical and continuous models of liability to externalizing disorders: a direct comparison in NESARC.

CONTEXT: Patterns of genetic, environmental, and phenotypic relationships among antisocial behavior and substance use disorders indicate the presence of a common externalizing liability. However, whether this liability is relatively continuous and graded, or categorical and class-like, has not been well established. OBJECTIVES: To compare the fit of categorical and continuous models of externalizing liability in a large, nationally representative sample. DESIGN: Categorical and continuous models of externalizing liability were compared using interview data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC). SETTING: Face-to-face interviews conducted in the United States. PARTICIPANTS: Random sample of 43 093 noninstitutionalized adult civilians living in the United States. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Lifetime and current (past 12 months) diagnoses of antisocial personality disorder, nicotine dependence, alcohol dependence, marijuana dependence, cocaine dependence, and other substance dependence. RESULTS: In the entire sample, as well as for males and females separately, using either lifetime or current diagnoses, the best-fitting model of externalizing liability was a continuous normal model. Moreover, there was a general trend toward latent trait models fitting better than latent class models, indicating that externalizing liability was continuous and graded, rather than categorical and class-like. CONCLUSIONS: Liability to externalizing spectrum disorders is graded and continuous normal in distribution. Research regarding etiology, assessment, and treatment of externalizing disorders should target externalizing liability over a range of severity. Current diagnoses represent extremes of this continuous liability distribution, indicating that conditions currently classified as subthreshold are likely to provide important information regarding liability to externalizing phenomena.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Genetic and environmental influences on adolescents' perceptions of current family environment.

Previous studies of the genetic and environmental components of the Family Environment Scale (FES) have typically reported that scales relating to familial acceptance are moderately to strongly genetically influenced while measures of control are more environmentally influenced. These reports relied on retrospective recall, which is not as reliable as recall of current environment. To investigate the genetic contribution to contemporaneous perceptions of one's rearing environment, the responses on the FES of 471 17-year-old male twins (141 complete MZ twin pairs, 73 complete DZ twin pairs, 43 incomplete twin pairs) participating in the Minnesota Twin-Family Study (MTFS) were analyzed. Individual FES scales were generally modestly to moderately heritable. Unlike previous research, we did not find evidence that measures of control/structure were less heritable than measures of acceptance/support. These findings support a genetic basis of perceptions of one's family environment and indicate that reports of control/structure may be more genetically influenced than previously believed based on retrospective reports.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Genetic effects on physical health: lower at higher income levels.

Given the robust finding that people in higher income groups tend to experience better physical health, there is interest in identifying mechanisms underlying this gradient. Using a nationwide sample of 719 twin pairs from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States, we investigated the possibility that gene-environment interaction underlies the income-health gradient. We observed that genetic variance associated with 2 measures of physical health, number of chronic illnesses and body mass index, each declined significantly with increasing income. This interaction effect could not be removed by adjusting income for the presence of health insurance coverage and education, suggesting that the interaction is not simply a result of differences in levels of those characteristics with income.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Psychopathic personality traits: heritability and genetic overlap with internalizing and externalizing psychopathology.

BACKGROUND: Little research has examined genetic and environmental contributions to psychopathic personality traits. Additionally, no studies have examined etiological connections between psychopathic traits and the broad psychopathological domains of internalizing (mood and anxiety) and externalizing (antisocial behavior, substance abuse). The current study was designed to fill these gaps in the literature. METHOD: Participants were 626 pairs of 17-year-old male and female twins from the community. Psychopathic traits were indexed using scores on the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ). Symptoms of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology were obtained via structured clinical interviews. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate genetic and environmental influences on psychopathic personality traits as well as the degree of genetic overlap between these traits and composites of internalizing and externalizing. RESULTS: Twin analyses revealed significant genetic influence on distinct psychopathic traits (Fearless Dominance and Impulsive Antisociality). Moreover, Fearless Dominance was associated with reduced genetic risk for internalizing psychopathology, and Impulsive Antisociality was associated with increased genetic risk for externalizing psychopathology. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that different psychopathic traits as measured by the MPQ show distinct genetically based relations with broad dimensions of DSM psychopathology.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Sources of covariation among the child-externalizing disorders: informant effects and the shared environment.

BACKGROUND: Research has documented high levels of co-morbidity among childhood externalizing disorders, but its etiology remains in dispute. Specifically, although all behavior genetic studies of the etiology of the co-occurrence of attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and conduct disorder (CD) agree that genetic factors are important, differences exist across studies in the relative weight assigned to genetic, shared environmental factors (i.e. factors that increase similarity among family members), and non-shared environmental factors (i.e. factors that decrease similarity among family members). Because heritability estimates can vary across informants, we used a biometric informant-effects model to determine whether these discrepancies were a function of systematic differences in maternal and child informant reports of ADHD, CD, and ODD. METHOD: We studied 1782 11-year-old twins from the Minnesota Twin Family Study. Symptom counts for each disorder were obtained from interviews administered to twins and their mothers. We fit a model that allowed us to examine, both across and within informants, the genetic and environmental contributions to the co-occurrence among ADHD, CD, and ODD. RESULTS: The results revealed that the co-occurrence among the disorders common to maternal and child informant reports was influenced largely by shared environmental forces. Genetic factors also contributed, though their impact was only marginally significant. In contrast, the co-occurrence unique to each informant was influenced exclusively by either genetic or non-shared environmental factors. CONCLUSIONS: Such findings offer additional evidence that shared environmental factors are important to the co-morbidity among ADHD, CD, and ODD, and highlight the necessity of considering informant effects when drawing conclusions about the origins of co-morbidity from analyses of genetically informative data.

Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity↗

PubMed2005

How are parent-child conflict and childhood externalizing symptoms related over time? Results from a genetically informative cross-lagged study.

The present study attempted to determine the direction and etiology of the robust relationship between childhood externalizing (EXT) symptoms and parent-child conflict using a genetically informative longitudinal model and data from the ongoing Minnesota Twin Family Study. Participants consisted of 1,506 same-sex twins assessed at ages 11 and 14, and their parents. The relationship between EXT and parent-child conflict from ages 11 to 14 was examined within a biometrical cross-lagged design. The results revealed three primary findings: first, the stability of conflict and externalizing over time is largely, although not solely, a result of genetic factors. Second, there appears to be a bidirectional relationship between conflict and EXT over time, such that both conflict and EXT at 11 independently predict the other 3 years later. Finally, the results are consistent with the notion that parent-child conflict partially results from parental responses to their child's heritable externalizing behavior, while simultaneously contributing to child externalizing via environmental mechanisms. These results suggest a "downward spiral" of interplay between parent-child conflict and EXT, and offer confirmation of a (partially) environmentally mediated effect of parenting on child behavior.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Symptom-based subfactors of DSM-defined conduct disorder: evidence for etiologic distinctions.

Past research investigating the structure of conduct disorder (CD) symptoms has provided evidence of a phenotypic distinction between aggressive and rule-breaking subfactors of CD. However, evidence of etiologic distinctions between these subfactors has not been reported to date. In the current study, the authors investigated this issue in a sample of 1,151 male twins who were 17 years of age. The results indicate that aggressive and rule-breaking CD subfactors have both common and distinct etiologic influences, with shared environmental influences playing a significant role in rule-breaking behaviors. The authors discuss implications of these findings for the assessment and treatment of CD.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Introduction to the special section: toward a dimensionally based taxonomy of psychopathology.

Much current psychopathology research is framed by categorical constructs. Limitations of categorical constructs have been articulated, and dimensional constructs are often proposed as viable alternatives to categories of psychopathology. The purpose of this Special Section is to articulate and discuss diverse issues that arise in contemplating dimensional constructs as targets for psychopathology research.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disord↗

PubMed2005

Externalizing psychopathology in adulthood: a dimensional-spectrum conceptualization and its implications for DSM-V.

Mental disorders involving antisocial behavior and substance use are genetically linked and vary continuously. The authors present a review and integrative conceptualization of these observations in terms of a dimensional and hierarchically organized externalizing spectrum. As a foundation for this conceptualization, the authors introduce a quantitative, model-based approach to comparing categorical and continuous conceptions of psychopathology and apply this approach in an empirical study of patterns of comorbidity among externalizing disorders as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The authors present evidence that comorbidity among externalizing disorders is best modeled by an underlying normally distributed continuum of risk for multiple disorders within the externalizing spectrum. The authors conclude by discussing implications of the externalizing spectrum conceptualization for classification of disorders in the upcoming 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Adult↗