Twin Study--Suicidality & Self-Harm in White/Black Women

描述（改编自申请人的摘要）：本研究探讨了遗传和环境的风险因素，导致自杀和自我伤害行为的一个代表性的社区样本的女性青少年和年轻的成年人，种族差异的相对强度，这些风险因素。 本研究的目的是阐明个体水平的危险因素（包括基因、环境和人格特质）对自杀和自伤行为的影响。 自杀和故意自残造成了相当大的公共卫生负担，但对这些行为的风险因素的研究有限。 该假设是遗传的，共享的和非共享的环境对自残和自杀企图的影响相似。该假设将通过行为遗传双胞胎研究设计进行检验。 已经收集的数据来自一个双胞胎登记处，包括3500多名17至25岁的女性（自残和自杀相对常见的人口统计学）。 首先将确定这些行为的流行率是否在非裔美国人和白色年轻女性之间存在差异。 结构方程模型还将用于1）确定基因、共享和非共享环境对自杀和自残行为的影响程度，以及这些比例是否因种族而异，2）确定常见和/或独特的风险因素是否对自杀和自残有影响，（3）检验神经质和冲动性的人格特征是否对自杀和自我伤害的遗传影响有一定的解释。 这项研究的几个方面是独特的：它将是第一个自我伤害的行为遗传分析，也是第一个研究种族自我伤害的差异流行率。 自我伤害越来越普遍，但很少有人了解。 此外，这项研究将是第一个探索自残和自杀行为之间的病因相似性。 如果两种行为都有相似的危险因素，那么预防计划很容易同时针对它们。 分析风险因素对种族自我伤害和自杀的不同影响也是新颖的。 如果这些风险因素的相对影响因种族而异，那么预防工作可能最有效地针对不同种族群体的不同类别的变量。 最后，没有先前的行为遗传学研究的自杀已经超越了估计遗传力，探索遗传传播的机制。 虽然基因不太可能成为预防计划的目标，但有可能针对中间表型，如人格风格。

DESCRIPTION (adapted from applicant's abstract): This study examines the genetic and environmental risk factors leading to suicidal and self-harm behaviors in a representative community sample of female adolescents and young adults, and racial differences in the relative strength of these risk factors. The study objective is to clarify the impact of individual-level risk factors (including genes, environment, and personality traits) on suicidal and self-harm behavior. Suicidality and deliberate self-harm pose a considerable public health burden, yet there is limited research on risk factors for these behaviors. The hypothesis is that genetic, shared, and nonshared environment affect both self-harm and suicide attempts similarly. The hypothesis will be tested by means of a behavior genetic twin study design. Data, which have already been collected, come from a twin registry including over 3500 17- to 25-year old females (a demographic in which self-harm and suicidality are relatively common). It will first be determined whether the prevalence of these behaviors differs between African American and White young women. Structural equation modeling will also be used to 1) determine the extent to which genes, shared, and nonshared environment contribute to suicidal and self-harm behavior and whether those proportions vary by race, 2) determine whether common and/or unique risk factors contribute to suicidality and self-harm, and 3) test whether the personality traits of neuroticism and impulsivity account for some of the genetic influence on suicidality and self-harm. Several aspects of this study are unique: It will be the first behavior genetic analysis of self-harm and the first study of the differential prevalence of self-harm by race. Self-harm is increasingly common yet little understood. Also, this study will be the first to explore etiological similarities between self-harm and suicidal behavior. If similar risk factors contribute to both behaviors, prevention programs might easily be designed to target them simultaneously. The analysis of the differential impact of risk factors on self-harm and suicidality by race is also novel. If the relative impact of these risk factors varies by race, prevention efforts might most effectively target different classes of variables for different racial groups. Finally, no prior behavior genetic studies of suicidality have gone beyond estimating heritability to exploring the mechanism of genetic transmission. While genes are an unlikely target for prevention programs, it may be possible to target intermediate phenotypes such as personality styles.