Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Investigation of Genetically Mediated Child Effects on Maltreatment

  • Original Research
  • Published:
Behavior Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Theory and empirical evidence suggest that children’s genetically influenced characteristics help to shape the environments they experience, including the parenting they ‘receive’. The extent of these genetically-mediated child effects on childhood maltreatment is not well known. The present study estimates the magnitude of genetically mediated child effects on maltreatment in 3,297 twins and siblings who were part of a large nationally representative sample of adolescents (ADD health). Participants in early adulthood retrospectively reported their experiences of physical and sexual maltreatment and neglect. Results are consistent with small genetically-mediated child effects on physical maltreatment and neglect, and none on sexual maltreatment, and all three forms of maltreatment are influenced mainly by idiosyncratic individual circumstances.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Achenbach TM, McConaughy SH, Howell CT (1987) Child/adolescent behavioral and emotional problems: implications for cross-informant correlations for situational specificity. j 101(2):213–232. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.101.2.213

    Google Scholar 

  • Adams JF (2001) Impact of parent training on family functioning. Child Fam Behav Ther 23(1):29–42. doi:10.1300/J019v23n01_03

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson KE, Lytton H, Romney DM (1986) Mothers’ interactions with normal and conduct disordered boys: who affects whom? Dev Psychol 22:604–609. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.22.5.604

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bell RQ (1968) A reinterpretation of the direction of effects in studies of socialization. Psychol Rev 75(2):81–95. doi:10.1037/h0025583

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Belsky J (1993) The etiology of child maltreatment: a development-ecological analysis. Psychol Bull 114(3):413–434. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.114.3.413

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Berger AM, Knutson JF, Mehm JG, Perkins KA (1988) The self-report of punitive childhood experiences of young adults and adolescents. Child Abuse Negl 12:251–262. doi:10.1016/0145-2134(88)90033-6

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brewin CR, Andrews B, Gotlib IH (1993) Psychopathology and early experience: a reappraisal of retrospective reports. Psychol Bull 113(1):82–98. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.113.1.82

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bronfenbrenner U (1986) Ecology of the family as a context for human development: research perspectives. Dev Psychol 22(6):723–742. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.22.6.723

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bugental DB, Shennum W (2002) Gender, power, and violence in the family. Child Maltreat 7(1):56–64. doi:10.1177/1077559502007001005

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carlin AS, Kemper K, Ward NG, Sowell H, Gustafson B, Stevens N (1994) The effect of differences in objective versus subjective definitions of childhood physical abuse on estimates of its incidence and relationship to psychopathology. Child Abuse Negl 18(5):393–399. doi:10.1016/0145-2134(94)90024-8

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carlson EB (1997) Trauma assessment: a clinician’s guide. Guilford, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Dong M, Anda RF, Felitti VJ, Dube SR, Williamson DF, Thompson TJ et al (2004) The interrelatedness of multiple forms of childhood abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction. Child Abuse Negl 28(7):771–784. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2004.01.008

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Finkel D, McGue M (1993) Twenty-five year follow-up of child-rearing practices: reliability of retrospective data. J Pers Individ Differ 15:147–154. doi:10.1016/0191-8869(93)90021-T

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris KM, Halpern CT, Smolen A, Haberstick BC (2006) The national longitudinal study of adolescent health (add health) Twin data. Twin Res Hum Genet 9(6):988–997. doi:10.1375/twin.9.6.998

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hewitt JK, Silberg JL, Neale MC, Eaves LJ (1992) The analysis of parental ratings of children’s behavior using LISREL. Behav Genet 22(3):293–317. doi:10.1007/BF01066663

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jaffee SR, Caspi A, Moffitt TE, Polo-Tomas M, Price TS, Taylor A (2004) The limits of child effects: evidence for genetically mediated child effects on corporal punishment but not on physical maltreatment. Dev Psychol 40(6):1047–1058. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.40.6.1047

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kazdin AE (2005) Parent management training: treatment for oppositional, aggressive, and antisocial behavior in children and adolescents. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kendler KS, Baker JH (2007) Genetic influences on measures of the environment: a systematic review. Psychol Med 37:615–626. doi:10.1017/S0033291706009524

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Neale MC, Cardon LR (1992) Methodology for genetic studies of twins and families. Kluwer, Dordrecht

    Google Scholar 

  • Neale MC, Boker SM, Xie G, Maes HH (2003) Mx: statistical modeling, 6th edn. Virginia Commonwealth University, Department of Psychiatry, Richmond

    Google Scholar 

  • Neiderhiser JM, Reiss D, Pederson NL, Lichtenstein P, Spotts EL, Hansson K, Cederblad M, Elthammer O (2004) Genetic and environmental influences on mothering of adolescents: a comparison of two samples. Dev Psychol 40(3):335–351. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.40.3.335

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Osofsky JD, O’Connell EJ (1972) Parent-child interaction: daughters effects upon mothers’ and fathers’ behaviors. Dev Psychol 7(2):157–168. doi:10.1037/h0033016

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patterson GR, Bank L, Stoolmiller M (1990) The preadolescent’s contributions to disrupted family process. In: Montemayor R, Adams GR, Gullotta TP (eds) From childhood to adolescence. Sage, Newbury Park, pp 107–133

    Google Scholar 

  • Plomin R (1995) Genetics and children’s experiences in the family. J Child Psychol Psychiatry Allied Discip 36(1):33–68. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1995.tb01655.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Plomin R, DeFries JC, Loehlin JC (1977) Genotype-environment interaction and correlation in the analysis of human behavior. Psychol Bull 84(2):309–322. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.84.2.309

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Plomin R, Reiss E, Hetherington M, Howe GW (1994) Nature and nurture: genetic contributions to the family environment. Dev Psychol 30(1):32–43. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.30.1.32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • SAS Institute Inc (2002) SAS 9.1.3 help and documentation. SAS Institute Inc, Cary, NC

  • Silvern L, Waelde L, McClintic B, Kaersvang L (2000) Two methods of eliciting retrospective reports of child abuse. Child Maltreat 5(3):236–250. doi:10.1177/1077559500005003004

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Simonoff E, Pickles A, Hewitt J, Silberg J (1995) Multiple raters of disruptive child behavior: using a genetic strategy to examine shared views and bias. Behav Genet 25(4):311–326. doi:10.1007/BF02197280

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stallings MC, Hewitt JK, Lessem JM, Young SE, Corley RP, Mikulich SK, Crowley TJ (2001) Modeling the familial transmission of alcohol dependence symptom counts in clinical and control family pedigrees. Behav Genet 31:470 Abstract

    Google Scholar 

  • Steele B (1980) Psychodynamic factors in child abuse. In: Kempe CH, Helfer RE (eds) The battered child, 2nd edn. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 52–56

    Google Scholar 

  • Sunday S, Labruna V, Kaplan S, Pelcovitz D, Newman J, Salzinger S (2008) Physical abuse during adolescence: gender differences in the adolescents’ perceptions of family functioning and parenting. Child Abuse Negl 32(1):5–18. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2007.03.025

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vasta R (1982) Physical child abuse: a dual-component analysis. Dev Rev 2:125–149. doi:10.1016/0273-2297(82)90007-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wade TD, Kendler KS (2000) The genetic epidemiology of parental discipline. Psychol Med 30:1303–1313. doi:10.1017/S0033291799003013

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Williams LM (1992) Adult memories of child abuse: preliminary findings from a longitudinal study. Paper presented at the 1992 national symposium on child abuse and neglect. Washington, DC

  • Yarrow LJ (1963) Research in dimensions of early maternal care. Merrill-Palmer Q 9(2):101–114

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research uses data from Add Health, a program project designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris, and funded by a grant P01-HD31921 from the national Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 17 other agencies. Special acknowledgment is due Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for assistance in the original design. Persons interested in obtaining data files from Add Health should contact Add Health, Carolina Population Center, 123 W. Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27516-2524 (addhealth@unc.edu). This research is also supported by NIH grants DA013956, HD007289, and MH15442.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA

    R. Jay Schulz-Heik, Soo Hyun Rhee & Louise Silvern

  2. Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA

    R. Jay Schulz-Heik, Soo Hyun Rhee, Jeffrey M. Lessem, Brett C. Haberstick & John K. Hewitt

  3. University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA

    Brett C. Haberstick & Christian Hopfer

Authors
  1. R. Jay Schulz-Heik
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Soo Hyun Rhee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Louise Silvern
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jeffrey M. Lessem
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Brett C. Haberstick
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Christian Hopfer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. John K. Hewitt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to R. Jay Schulz-Heik.

Additional information

Edited by Deborah Finkel.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Jay Schulz-Heik, R., Rhee, S.H., Silvern, L. et al. Investigation of Genetically Mediated Child Effects on Maltreatment. Behav Genet 39, 265–276 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-009-9261-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-009-9261-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation