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Relationships Between Parental Negativity and Childhood Antisocial Behavior over Time: A Bidirectional Effects Model in a Longitudinal Genetically Informative Design

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Abstract

This study examined the direction and etiology underlying the relationships between parental negativity and early childhood antisocial behavior using a bidirectional effects model in a longitudinal genetically informative design. We analyzed parent reports of parental negativity and early childhood antisocial behavior in 6,230 pairs of twins at 4 and 7 years of age. Results from a cross-lagged twin model contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms underlying the bidirectional processes involved in parental negativity and childhood antisocial behavior. Specifically, the findings of this study suggest that the association between parenting and child antisocial behavior is best explained by both parent-driven and child-driven effects. We found support for the notion that parent’s negative feelings towards their children environmentally mediate the risk for child antisocial behavior. We also found evidence of genetically mediated child effects; in which genetically influenced antisocial behavior evoke parental negativity towards the child.

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Notes

  1. The total phenotypic correlation between the two measures is given by taken into account the pre-existing correlation between parental negativity and antisocial behavior at age 4 (the correlation coefficient between the two measures was estimated to 0.31) as well as the relationship between antisocial behavior at age 4 and parental negativity at age 7 (this cross-lagged path was estimated to 0.153, see Fig. 2). Summing these paths (0.371 + [0.305 × 0.153]) resulted in a moderate correlation (r = 0.42) over time for parental negativity. Similarly, the correlation over time for antisocial behavior was estimated to 0.39 (0.357 + [0.31 × 0.12]).

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Acknowledgments

Work on this article started while Henrik Larsson was a postdoctoral fellow at the Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, King’s College London. H.L. was supported by a postdoctoral stipend from Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research (project 2005-1356). The authors are indebted to the twins, their parents and teachers. TEDS receives support from the UK Medical Research Council (G0500079). Research into development of antisocial behavior also receives support from the UK Department of Health and Home Office (MRD 12-37). We appreciate helpful comments of Jenae M. Neiderhiser on earlier versions of this article.

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  1. Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, P.O. Box 281, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden

    Henrik Larsson

  2. Department of Woman and Child Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

    Henrik Larsson

  3. Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK

    Essi Viding, Fruhling V. Rijsdijk & Robert Plomin

  4. Department of Psychology, University College London, London, UK

    Essi Viding

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  1. Henrik Larsson
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Correspondence to Henrik Larsson.

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Larsson, H., Viding, E., Rijsdijk, F.V. et al. Relationships Between Parental Negativity and Childhood Antisocial Behavior over Time: A Bidirectional Effects Model in a Longitudinal Genetically Informative Design. J Abnorm Child Psychol 36, 633–645 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-007-9151-2

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