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Genetic and Environmental Contributions to Behavioral Stability and Change in Children 6–36 months of Age Using Louisville Twin Study Data

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Abstract

The Infant Behavior Record (IBR) from the Bayley Scales of Infant Development has been used to study behavioral development since the 1960s. Matheny (1983) examined behavioral development at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months from the Louisville Twin Study (LTS). The extracted temperament scales included Task Orientation, Affect-Extraversion, and Activity. He concluded that monozygotic twins were more similar than same-sex dizygotic twins on these dimensions. Since this seminal work was published, a larger LTS sample and more advanced analytical methods are available. In the current analyses, Choleksy decomposition was applied to behavioral data (n = 1231) from twins 6–36 months. Different patterns of genetic continuity vs genetic innovations were identified for each IBR scale. Single common genetic and shared environmental factors explained cross-age twin similarity in the Activity scale. Multiple shared environmental factors and a single genetic factor coming on line at age 18 months contributed to Affect-Extraversion. A single shared environmental factor and multiple genetic factors explained cross-age twin similarity in Task Orientation.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the original Louisville Twin Study researchers and staff for the meticulous work they did to make it possible for us to revisit these data. This research was supported, in part, by a grant from the National Institute of Aging (1 R03 AG048850-01) and by the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Louisville.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, University of Louisville School of Medicine, 571 S. Floyd Street, Suite 412, Louisville, KY, USA

    Deborah Winders Davis

  2. School of Social Sciences, Indiana University Southeast, New Albany, IN, USA

    Deborah Finkel

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Eric Turkheimer

  4. Department of Economics, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA

    William Dickens

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  1. Deborah Winders Davis
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Correspondence to Deborah Winders Davis.

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Conflict of Interest

Deborah Winders Davis, Deborah Finkel, Eric Turkheimer, and William Dickens declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human Rights and Informed Consent

The secondary data analysis was approved by the Institution Review Board at the University of Louisville and all procedures were done in accordance with their ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all participants for the original data collection.

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Davis, D.W., Finkel, D., Turkheimer, E. et al. Genetic and Environmental Contributions to Behavioral Stability and Change in Children 6–36 months of Age Using Louisville Twin Study Data. Behav Genet 45, 610–621 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-015-9759-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-015-9759-x

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