Behavior Genetics of Temperament and Psychopathology

描述(由申请人提供)：有大量关于儿童气质特征和精神症状之间的联系的文献。最近的一项元分析表明，情绪性的气质特征与内化性和外部性障碍都有适度的联系。然而，这些关联的病因在很大程度上是未知的。拟议的项目将研究情绪性与内化和外化症状之间联系的潜在遗传和环境影响。佐治亚州双胞胎登记处的数据是对838对4-18岁双胞胎的人口样本，将用于解决几个具体目标。这些数据将允许对情绪性和症状学的行为遗传分析，以及情绪性和每个症状维度之间的协变分析。以前的研究还没有阐明情绪性与内化和外化障碍之间的联系是由于共同的潜在遗传还是环境影响。这项拟议的研究将通过使用多变量行为遗传模型拟合分析来阐明这些关联的性质，从而为发展精神病理学文献做出独特的贡献。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There is a large body of literature on the interface of childhood temperament characteristics and psychiatric symptoms. A recent meta-analysis indicates that the temperamental characteristic of emotionality is moderately associated with both internalizing and externalizing disorders. The etiology of these associations, however, are largely unknown. The proposed project will examine the genetic and environmental influences underlying the associations between emotionality and internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Data from the Georgia Twin Registry, a population-based sample of 838 twins age 4 - 18, will be used to address several specific aims. These data wilt allow for behavior genetic analyses of both emotionality and symptomatology as well as analyses of covariation between emotionality and each symptom dimension. Previous studies have not yet elucidated whether the associations between emotionality and internalizing and externalizing disorders are due to common underlying genetic or environmental influences. The proposed study will make a unique contribution to the development psychopathology literature by elucidating the nature of these associations using multivariate behavior genetic model-fitting analyses.