Elsevier

Biological Psychiatry

Volume 60, Issue 9, 1 November 2006, Pages 912-920
Biological Psychiatry

Original article
Longitudinal Stability of the CBCL-Juvenile Bipolar Disorder Phenotype: A Study in Dutch Twins

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.02.028Get rights and content

Background

The Child Behavior Checklist–juvenile bipolar disorder phenotype (CBCL-JBD) is a quantitative phenotype that is based on parental ratings of the behavior of the child. The phenotype is predictive of  DSM-IV characterizations of BD and has been shown to be sensitive and specific. Its genetic architecture differs from that for inattentive, aggressive, or anxious–depressed syndromes. The purpose of this study is to assess the developmental stability of the CBCL-JBD phenotype across ages 7, 10, and 12 years in a large population-based twin sample and to examine its genetic architecture.

Methods

Longitudinal data on Dutch mono- and dizygotic twin pairs (N = 8013 pairs) are analyzed to decompose the stability of the CBCL-JBD phenotype into genetic and environmental contributions.

Results

Heritability of the CBCL-JBD increases with age (from 63% to 75%), whereas the effects of shared environment decrease (from 20% to 8%). The stability of the CBCL-JBD phenotype is high, with correlations between .66 and .77 across ages 7, 10, and 12 years. Genetic factors account for the majority of the stability of this phenotype. There were no sex differences in genetic architecture.

Conclusions

Roughly 80% of the stability in childhood CBCL-JBD is a result of additive genetic effects.

Section snippets

Subjects and Procedure

Data for this study come from an ongoing longitudinal study that examines environmental and genetic influences on the development of problem behavior in 3- to 12-year-old twins. The families are volunteer members of the Netherlands Twin Register (NTR), kept by the Department of Biological Psychology at the Free University, Amsterdam (Boomsma et al 2002b). Starting in 1987, families with newborn twins were recruited. Currently, 40%–50% of all multiple births in The Netherlands are registered by

Sample Characteristics and Descriptive Statistics

Table 1 shows the means and variances estimated in the saturated model across zygosity and sex. Table 2 shows the results of the tests for the homogeneity of means and variances. For all tests, the SRMR and CFI indicate that only the mean and variance differences across sexes can be considered relevant (SRMR > .05, CFI < .97). There is a tendency for male twins to show larger means and variability in CBCL-JBD than female twins.

The summary of twin correlations at each age and of the

Discussion

This study examined the stability and genetic architecture across time of the CBCL-JBD phenotype, which has been shown to be consistent with DSM conceptualizations of JBD. CBCL-JBD, defined as the sum of the AP, AGG, and A/D subscales, has been demonstrated to be associated with the DSM JBD phenotype across studies. The use of CBCL-JBD as a measure of DSM JBD has been recommended as one possible method to circumvent the diagnostic confounds that continue to be debated (National Institute of

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