Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T20:37:43.821Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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: [email protected]) [E.L.] (Email: [email protected]) [M.B.]
* Address for correspondence: E. Lacourse, Ph.D., Department of Sociology, CP 6128, succursale Centre-ville, Montreal, Quebec, H3C 3J7, Canada. (Email: [email protected]) [E.L.] (Email: [email protected]) [M.B.]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alink, LR, Mesman, J, van Zeijl, J, Stolk, MN, Juffer, F, Koot, HM, Bakermans-Kranenburg, MJ, van Ijzendoorn, MH (2006). The early childhood aggression curve: development of physical aggression in 10- to 50-month-old children. Child Development 77, 954–966.Google Scholar
Anderson, CA, Bushman, BJ (2002). Human aggression. Annual Review of Psychology 53, 27–51.Google Scholar
Baillargeon, RH, Zoccolillo, M, Keenan, K, Cote, S, Perusse, D, Wu, HX, Boivin, M, Tremblay, RE (2007). Gender differences in physical aggression: a prospective population-based survey of children before and after 2 years of age. Developmental Psychology 43, 13–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bandura, A (1978). Social learning theory of aggression. Journal of Communication 28, 12–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barker, ED, Boivin, M, Brendgen, M, Fontaine, N, Arseneault, L, Vitaro, F, Bissonnette, C, Tremblay, RE (2008). Predictive validity and early predictors of peer-victimization trajectories in preschool. Archives of General Psychiatry 65, 1185–1192.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boivin, M, Brendgen, M, Dionne, G, Dubois, L, Perusse, D, Robaey, P, Tremblay, RE, Vitaro, F (2013 a). The Quebec Newborn Twin Study into adolescence: 15 years later. Twin Research and Human Genetics 16, 64–69.Google Scholar
Boivin, M, Brendgen, M, Vitaro, F, Dionne, G, Girard, A, Perusse, D, Tremblay, RE (2013 b). Strong genetic contribution to peer relationship difficulties at school entry: findings from a longitudinal twin study. Child Development 84, 1098–1114.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boivin, M, Brendgen, M, Vitaro, F, Forget-Dubois, N, Feng, B, Tremblay, RE, Dionne, G (2013 c). Evidence of gene–environment correlation for peer difficulties: disruptive behaviors predict early peer relation difficulties in school through genetic effects. Development and Psychopathology 25, 79–92.Google Scholar
Boivin, M, Perusse, D, Dionne, G, Saysset, V, Zoccolillo, M, Tarabulsy, GM, Tremblay, N, Tremblay, RE (2005). The genetic–environmental etiology of parents’ perceptions and self-assessed behaviours toward their 5-month-old infants in a large twin and singleton sample. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 46, 612–630.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brendgen, M, Boivin, M, Dionne, G, Barker, ED, Vitaro, F, Girard, A, Tremblay, R, Perusse, D (2011). Gene–environment processes linking aggression, peer victimization, and the teacher–child relationship. Child Development 82, 2021–2036.Google Scholar
Brendgen, M, Boivin, M, Vitaro, F, Bukowski, WM, Dionne, G, Tremblay, RE, Perusse, D (2008). Linkages between children's and their friends’ social and physical aggression: evidence for a gene–environment interaction? Child Development 79, 13–29.Google Scholar
Broidy, LM, Nagin, DS, Tremblay, RE, Bates, JE, Brame, B, Dodge, KA, Fergusson, D, Horwood, JL, Loeber, R, Laird, R, Lynam, DR, Moffitt, TE, Pettit, GS, Vitaro, F (2003). Developmental trajectories of childhood disruptive behaviors and adolescent delinquency: a six-site, cross-national study. Developmental Psychology 39, 222–245.Google Scholar
Burt, SA (2009). Are there meaningful etiological differences within antisocial behavior? Results of a meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review 29, 163–178.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burt, SA (2012). How do we optimally conceptualize the heterogeneity within antisocial behavior? An argument for aggressive versus non-aggressive behavioral dimensions. Clinical Psychology Review 32, 263–279.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burt, SA, Klump, KL (2013). Delinquent peer affiliation as an etiological moderator of childhood delinquency. Psychological Medicine 43, 1269–1278.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burt, SA, McGue, M, Carter, LA, Iacono, WG (2007). The different origins of stability and change in antisocial personality disorder symptoms. Psychological Medicine 37, 27–38.Google Scholar
Côté, SM, Boivin, M, Nagin, DS, Japel, C, Xu, Q, Zoccolillo, M, Junger, M, Tremblay, RE (2007). The role of maternal education and nonmaternal care services in the prevention of children's physical aggression problems. Archives of General Psychiatry 64, 1305–1312.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Côté, SM, Vaillancourt, T, LeBlanc, JC, Nagin, DS, Tremblay, RE (2006). The development of physical aggression from toddlerhood to pre-adolescence: a nation wide longitudinal study of Canadian children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 34, 71–85.Google Scholar
Crick, NR, Dodge, KA (1994). A review and reformulation of social information-processing mechanisms in children's social adjustment. Psychological Bulletin 115, 74–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cummings, EM, Iannotti, RJ, Zahnwaxler, C (1989). Aggression between peers in early childhood: individual continuity and developmental change. Child Development 60, 887–895.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Deater-Deckard, K, Petrill, SA, Thompson, LA (2007). Anger/frustration, task persistence, and conduct problems in childhood: a behavioral genetic analysis. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines 48, 80–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Derks, EM, Dolan, CV, Boomsma, DI (2006). A test of the equal environment assumption (EEA) in multivariate twin studies. Twin Research and Human Genetics 9, 403–411.Google Scholar
DiLalla, LF (2002). Behavior genetics of aggression in children: review and future directions. Developmental Review 22, 593–622.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Efron, B (1986). Jackknife, bootstrap and other resampling methods in regression-analysis – discussion. Annals of Statistics 14, 1301–1304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferguson, CJ (2013). Violent video games and the supreme court: lessons for the scientific community in the wake of Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association. American Psychologist 68, 57–74.Google Scholar
Gagne, JR, Goldsmith, HH (2011). A longitudinal analysis of anger and inhibitory control in twins from 12 to 36 months of age. Developmental Science 14, 112–124.Google Scholar
Granic, I, Patterson, GR (2006). Toward a comprehensive model of antisocial development: a dynamic systems approach. Psychological Review 113, 101–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kandler, C, Bleidorn, W, Riemann, R, Spinath, FM, Thiel, W, Angleitner, A (2010). Sources of cumulative continuity in personality: a longitudinal multiple-rater twin study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 98, 995–1008.Google Scholar
Kendler, KS, Gardner, CO, Annas, P, Neale, MC, Eaves, LJ, Lichtenstein, P (2008 a). A longitudinal twin study of fears from middle childhood to early adulthood: evidence for a developmentally dynamic genome. Archives of General Psychiatry 65, 421–429.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendler, KS, Jacobson, K, Myers, JM, Eaves, LJ (2008 b). A genetically informative developmental study of the relationship between conduct disorder and peer deviance in males. Psychological Medicine 38, 1001–1011.Google Scholar
Kendler, KS, Neale, MC, Kessler, RC, Heath, AC, Eaves, LJ (1993). A test of the equal-environment assumption in twin studies of psychiatric illness. Behavior Genetics 23, 21–27.Google Scholar
Kuntsi, J, Rijsdijk, F, Ronald, A, Asherson, P, Plomin, R (2005). Genetic influences on the stability of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms from early to middle childhood. Biological Psychiatry 57, 647–654.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McArdle, JJ, Hamagami, F (2003). Structural equation models for evaluating dynamic concepts within longitudinal twin analyses. Behavior Genetics 33, 137–159.Google Scholar
Miles, DR, Carey, G (1997). Genetic and environmental architecture of human aggression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 72, 207–217.Google Scholar
Nagin, D, Tremblay, RE (1999). Trajectories of boys’ physical aggression, opposition, and hyperactivity on the path to physically violent and nonviolent juvenile delinquency. Child Development 70, 1181–1196.Google Scholar
Neale, MC, McArdle, JJ (2000). Structured latent growth curves for twin data. Twin Research 3, 165–177.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
NICHD Early Child Care Research Network (2004). Trajectories of physical aggression from toddlerhood to middle childhood: predictors, correlates, and outcomes. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 69, 1–146.Google Scholar
Olweus, D (1979). Stability of aggressive reaction patterns in males: a review. Psychological Bulletin 86, 852–875.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ouellet-Morin, I, Boivin, M, Dionne, G, Lupien, SJ, Arsenault, L, Barr, RG, Pérusse, D, Tremblay, RE (2008). Variations in heritability of cortisol reactivity to stress as a function of early familial adversity among 19 month-old twins. Archives of General Psychiatry 65, 211–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ouellet-Morin, I, Dionne, G, Perusse, D, Lupien, SJ, Arseneault, L, Barr, RG, Tremblay, RE, Boivin, M (2009). Daytime cortisol secretion in 6-month-old twins: genetic and environmental contributions as a function of early familial adversity. Biological Psychiatry 65, 409–416.Google Scholar
Petitclerc, A, Boivin, M, Dionne, G, Perusse, D, Tremblay, RE (2011). Genetic and environmental etiology of disregard for rules. Behavior Genetics 41, 192–200.Google Scholar
Rhee, SH, Waldman, ID (2002). Genetic and environmental influences on antisocial behavior: a meta-analysis of twin and adoption studies. Psychological Bulletin 128, 490–529.Google Scholar
Saudino, K, Ganiban, J (2011). Does difficult temperament moderate genetic and environmental influences on behavior problems? Behavior Genetics 41, 935–935.Google Scholar
Shaw, DS, Keenan, K, Vondra, JI (1994). Developmental precursors of externalizing behavior – ages 1 to 3. Developmental Psychology 30, 355–364.Google Scholar
Snyder, J, Schrepferman, L, Oeser, J, Patterson, G, Stoolmiller, M, Johnson, K, Snyder, A (2005). Deviancy training and association with deviant peers in young children: occurrence and contribution to early-onset conduct problems. Development and Psychopathology 17, 397–413.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stattin, H, Magnusson, D (1989). The role of early aggressive behavior in the frequency, seriousness, and types of later crime. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 57, 710–718.Google Scholar
Thai, HT, Mentre, F, Holford, NHG, Veyrat-Follet, C, Comets, E (2013). A comparison of bootstrap approaches for estimating uncertainty of parameters in linear mixed-effects models. Pharmaceutical Statistics 12, 129–140.Google Scholar
Tremblay, RE (2010). Developmental origins of disruptive behaviour problems: the ‘original sin’ hypothesis, epigenetics and their consequences for prevention. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines 51, 341–367.Google Scholar
Tremblay, RE, Loeber, R, Gagnon, C, Charlebois, P, Larivee, S, LeBlanc, M (1991). Disruptive boys with stable and unstable high fighting behavior patterns during junior elementary school. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 19, 285–300.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tremblay, RE, Nagin, DS, Seguin, JR, Zoccolillo, M, Zelazo, PD, Boivin, M, Perusse, D, Japel, C (2004). Physical aggression during early childhood: trajectories and predictors. Pediatrics 114, e43–e50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tuvblad, C, Baker, LA (2011). Human aggression across the lifespan: genetic propensities and environmental moderators. Advances in Genetics 75, 171–214.Google Scholar
Tuvblad, C, Narusyte, J, Grann, M, Sarnecki, J, Lichtenstein, P (2011). The genetic and environmental etiology of antisocial behavior from childhood to emerging adulthood. Behavior Genetics 41, 629–640.Google Scholar
van Beijsterveldt, CE, Bartels, M, Hudziak, JJ, Boomsma, DI (2003). Causes of stability of aggression from early childhood to adolescence: a longitudinal genetic analysis in Dutch twins. Behavior Genetics 33, 591–605.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Lier, P, Boivin, M, Dionne, G, Vitaro, F, Brendgen, M, Koot, H, Tremblay, RE, Perusse, D (2007). Kindergarten children's genetic vulnerabilities interact with friends’ aggression to promote children's own aggression. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 46, 1080–1087.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Viding, E, Larsson, H, Jones, AP (2008). Quantitative genetic studies of antisocial behaviour. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences 363, 2519–2527.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vitaro, F, Brendgen, M, Boivin, M, Cantin, S, Dionne, G, Tremblay, RE, Girard, A, Perusse, D (2011). A monozygotic twin difference study of friends’ aggression and children's adjustment problems. Child Development 82, 617–632.Google Scholar