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A longitudinal twin study of physical aggression during early childhood: evidence for a developmentally dynamic genome

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 January 2014

E. Lacourse ,
M. Boivin ,
M. Brendgen ,
A. Petitclerc ,
A. Girard ,
F. Vitaro ,
S. Paquin ,
I. Ouellet-Morin ,
G. Dionne  and
R. E. Tremblay
E. Lacourse*
Affiliation:
Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Adjustment, Ste-Justine Hospital Research Center, University of Montreal, QC, Canada Department of Sociology, University of Montreal, QC, Canada
M. Boivin*
Affiliation:
Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Adjustment, Ste-Justine Hospital Research Center, University of Montreal, QC, Canada School of Psychology, Laval University, QC, Canada
M. Brendgen
Affiliation:
Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Adjustment, Ste-Justine Hospital Research Center, University of Montreal, QC, Canada Department of Psychology, Université du Québec à Montréal, QC, Canada
A. Petitclerc
Affiliation:
National Center for Children and Families, Teachers College, Columbia University, NY, USA
A. Girard
Affiliation:
Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Adjustment, Ste-Justine Hospital Research Center, University of Montreal, QC, Canada
F. Vitaro
Affiliation:
Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Adjustment, Ste-Justine Hospital Research Center, University of Montreal, QC, Canada Department of Psychoeducation, University of Montreal, QC, Canada
S. Paquin
Affiliation:
Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Adjustment, Ste-Justine Hospital Research Center, University of Montreal, QC, Canada Department of Sociology, University of Montreal, QC, Canada
I. Ouellet-Morin
Affiliation:
Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Adjustment, Ste-Justine Hospital Research Center, University of Montreal, QC, Canada School of Criminology, University of Montreal, and Mental Health Institute of Montreal Research Center, QC, Canada
G. Dionne
Affiliation:
Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Adjustment, Ste-Justine Hospital Research Center, University of Montreal, QC, Canada School of Psychology, Laval University, QC, Canada
R. E. Tremblay
Affiliation:
Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Adjustment, Ste-Justine Hospital Research Center, University of Montreal, QC, Canada School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Population Science, University College Dublin, Republic of Ireland Department of Psychology and Pediatrics, University of Montreal, QC, Canada
*
*Address for correspondence: E. Lacourse, Ph.D., Department of Sociology, CP 6128, succursale Centre-ville, Montreal, Quebec, H3C 3J7, Canada. (Email: eric.lacourse@umontreal.ca) [E.L.] (Email: michel.boivin@ulaval.ca) [M.B.]
*Address for correspondence: E. Lacourse, Ph.D., Department of Sociology, CP 6128, succursale Centre-ville, Montreal, Quebec, H3C 3J7, Canada. (Email: eric.lacourse@umontreal.ca) [E.L.] (Email: michel.boivin@ulaval.ca) [M.B.]
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Abstract

Background

Physical aggression (PA) tends to have its onset in infancy and to increase rapidly in frequency. Very little is known about the genetic and environmental etiology of PA development during early childhood. We investigated the temporal pattern of genetic and environmental etiology of PA during this crucial developmental period.

Method

Participants were 667 twin pairs, including 254 monozygotic and 413 dizygotic pairs, from the ongoing longitudinal Quebec Newborn Twin Study. Maternal reports of PA were obtained from three waves of data at 20, 32 and 50 months. These reports were analysed using a biometric Cholesky decomposition and linear latent growth curve model.

Results

The best-fitting Cholesky model revealed developmentally dynamic effects, mostly genetic attenuation and innovation. The contribution of genetic factors at 20 months substantially decreased over time, while new genetic effects appeared later on. The linear latent growth curve model revealed a significant moderate increase in PA from 20 to 50 months. Two separate sets of uncorrelated genetic factors accounted for the variation in initial level and growth rate. Non-shared and shared environments had no effect on the stability, initial status and growth rate in PA.

Conclusions

Genetic factors underlie PA frequency and stability during early childhood; they are also responsible for initial status and growth rate in PA. The contribution of shared environment is modest, and perhaps limited, as it appears only at 50 months. Future research should investigate the complex nature of these dynamic genetic factors through genetic–environment correlation (rGE) and interaction (G × E) analyses.

Keywords

Behavioral geneticsdevelopmental trajectoriesearly childhoodlongitudinal studiesphysical aggression
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 44 , Issue 12 , September 2014 , pp. 2617 - 2627
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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