Genetic and Environmental Influences on Stressful Life Events and their Associations with Executive Functions in Young Adulthood: A Longitudinal Twin Analysis

Morrison, Claire L.; Rhee, Soo Hyun; Smolker, Harry R.; Corley, Robin P.; Hewitt, John K.; Friedman, Naomi P.

doi:10.1007/s10519-020-10017-9

Original Research
Published: 21 September 2020

Genetic and Environmental Influences on Stressful Life Events and their Associations with Executive Functions in Young Adulthood: A Longitudinal Twin Analysis

Claire L. Morrison ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5692-6529^1,2,
Soo Hyun Rhee^1,2,
Harry R. Smolker^1,2,
Robin P. Corley²,
John K. Hewitt^1,2 &
Naomi P. Friedman^1,2

Behavior Genetics volume 51, pages 30–44 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

Although stress is frequently considered an environmental factor, dependent stressful life events (SLEs)––stressors that result from one’s actions or behaviors––may in fact be evoked by a genetic liability. It has been suggested that dependent SLEs may be partially caused by poor executive function (EFs), higher-level cognitive abilities that enable individuals to implement goal-directed behavior. We investigated the possibility of genetic and environmental overlap between SLEs and EFs in a longitudinal twin study. We found high genetic stability in the number of dependent SLEs from age 23 to age 29, suggesting that the number of dependent stressors show persistence across time due to their genetic etiology. In addition, there was a nominally significant negative genetic correlation between a Common EF latent factor and dependent SLEs at age 23. The genetic stability of dependent SLEs and association with Common EF provides insight into how some behaviors may lead to persistent stress.

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Notes

We used Eq. 15, which assumes that the correlations being compared are independent. Because these parameters were estimated in the same twin sample, they may covary slightly. However, when that covariance is positive, as would most likely be the case in this sample, the confidence interval for their difference becomes tighter. Thus, this may be a conservative estimate of the 95% confidence interval for their difference.

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Funding

This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants MH063207, AG046938, MH016880, and DA011015.

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Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
Claire L. Morrison, Soo Hyun Rhee, Harry R. Smolker, John K. Hewitt & Naomi P. Friedman
Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado Boulder, 447 UCB, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA
Claire L. Morrison, Soo Hyun Rhee, Harry R. Smolker, Robin P. Corley, John K. Hewitt & Naomi P. Friedman

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Claire L. Morrison
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Soo Hyun Rhee
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Harry R. Smolker
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Robin P. Corley
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John K. Hewitt
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Naomi P. Friedman
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Correspondence to Claire L. Morrison.

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All procedures performed in this study were conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the University of Colorado Boulder institutional review board (protocol#11-0614) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Morrison, C.L., Rhee, S.H., Smolker, H.R. et al. Genetic and Environmental Influences on Stressful Life Events and their Associations with Executive Functions in Young Adulthood: A Longitudinal Twin Analysis. Behav Genet 51, 30–44 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-020-10017-9

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Received: 03 April 2020
Accepted: 14 September 2020
Published: 21 September 2020
Issue Date: January 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-020-10017-9

Keywords

Dependent stress
Independent stress
Executive control
Genetic correlation
Behavior genetics
Twins