Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-xtgtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T16:16:06.144Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Behavior problems in 5-year-old monozygotic and dizygotic twins: Genetic and environmental influences, patterns of regulation, and internalization of control

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2009

Carolyn Zahn-Waxler ,
Stephanie Schmitz ,
David Fulker ,
Joann Robinson  and
Robert Emde
Carolyn Zahn-Waxler*
Affiliation:
National Institute of Mental Health
Stephanie Schmitz
Affiliation:
Institute for Behavior Genetics, University of Colorado, Boulder
David Fulker
Affiliation:
Institute for Behavior Genetics, University of Colorado, Boulder
Joann Robinson
Affiliation:
University of Colorado Medical Center, Denver
Robert Emde
Affiliation:
University of Colorado Medical Center, Denver
*
Carolyn Zahn-Waxler, Section on Child Behavioral Disorders, 15-K, 9000 Rockville Pike, Dethesda, MD 20892.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Genetic influence on externalizing problems, internalizing problems, and attentional/activity problems in 5-year-olds was consistently identified across informants and assessment contexts. Effects of the shared environment were identified as well but with less consistency (i.e., only from parents, not teachers, and more from father than mother reports). Correlations between observed patterns of regulation at ages 3, 4, and 5 years and behavior problems at age 5 years were often significant, but low in magnitude and specific to teacher reports. Adaptive internalization of control at each age (e.g., frustration tolerance, capacity to attend and focus, good impulse control) predicted fewer externalizing problems. Internalization of standards, reflected in children's moral themes, understanding of reciprocity, and constructive social problem solving, also were sometimes associated with fewer problems. Significant correlations were low in magnitude and again specific to teacher reports. Externalizing problems were more prevalent for boys than girls, and regulation (i.e., internalization of control and standards) was more characteristic of girls than boys.

Type
Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 8 , Issue 1: Special Issue: Regulatory Process , Winter 1996 , pp. 103 - 122
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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

Achenbach, T. M. (1990). Conceptualization of developmental psychopathology. In Lewis, M. & Miller, S. M. (Eds.), Handbook of Developmental Psychopathology (pp. 3–13). New York: Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Achenbach, T. (1991). Manual for the Child Behavior Checklist/4–16 and 1991 Profile. University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry, Burlington, VT.Google Scholar
Achenbach, T. (1993). Taxonomy and comorbidity of conduct problems: Evidence from empirically based approaches. Development and Psychopathology, 5, 51–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bayley, N. (1969). Manual for the Dayley Scales of Infant Development. New York: Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Behar, L., & Stringfield, S. (1974). A behavior rating scale for the preschool child. Developmental Psychology, 10, 601–610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Block, J. (1994, 03). Depressive symptoms from adolescence to adulthood: Continuity, change and gender differences. NIMH Workshop on Risk and Developmental Processes in the Emergence of Sex Differences in Depression in Adolescence. Rock-ville, MD.Google Scholar
Campbell, S. B. (1995). Behavior problems in preschool children: A review of recent research. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry & Allied Disciplines, 36(1), 113–149.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Campbell, S. B., & Ewing, L. J. (1990). Follow-up of hard-to-manage preschoolers: Adjustment at age 9 and predictors of continuing symptoms. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 3, 871–889.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caspi, A., Elder, G. H., & Bem, D. J. (1987). Moving against the world. Life course patterns of explosive children. Developmental Psychology, 23, 308–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cicchetti, D., Ganiban, J., & Barnett, D. (1991). Contributions from the study of high-risk populations to the understanding of emotion regulation. In Garber, J. & Dodge, K. A. (Eds.), The development of emotion regulation and dysregulation (pp. 1548). New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Tucker, D. (1994). Development and self-regulatory structures of the mind. Development and Psychopathology, 6, 533–549.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cloninger, C. R., & Gottesman, I. I. (1987). Genetic and environmental factors in antisocial behavior disorders. In Mednick, S. A., Moffitt, T. E., & Stack, S. A. (Eds.), Causes of crime: New biological approaches (pp. 92–109). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cole, P. M., & Zahn-Waxler, C. (1992). Emotion dysregulation in disruptive behavior disorders. In Cicchetti, D. & Toth, S. (Eds.), Rochester symposium on developmental psychopathology: Vol. 4. Developmental perspectives on depression (pp. 173–209). Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press.Google Scholar
Cole, P. M., Michel, M. K., & Teti, L. O. (1994). The development of emotion regulation and dysregulation: A clinical perspective. In N. A. Fox (Ed.), The development of emotion regulation: Biological and behavioral considerations, Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development (pp. 73–100). (Serial No. 240).Google Scholar
Cole, P. M., Zahn-Waxler, C., & Smith, K. D. (1994). Expressive control during a disappointment: Variations related to pre-schoolers' behavior problems. Developmental Psychology, 30, 835–846.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cole, P. M., Zahn-Waxler, C., Fox, N. A., Usher, B., & Welsh, J. D. (1994). Individual differences in emotional expressivity and reactivity in behavior problem preschoolers. Manuscript submitted for publication.Google Scholar
Cyphers, L. H., Phillips, K., Fulker, D. W., & Mrazek, D. A. (1990). Twin temperament during the transition from infancy to early childhood. American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 29, 392–397.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
D'Angelo, L. L., Weinberger, D. A., & Feldman, S. (1995). Like father, like son?: Predicting male adolescents' adjustment from parents' distress and self-restraint. Developmental Psychology.Google Scholar
DeFries, J. C., & Fulker, D. W. (1985). Multiple regression of twin data. Behavior Genetics, 16, 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edelbrock, C., & Costello, A. J. (1988). Convergence between statistically derived behavior problem syndromes and child psychiatric diagnoses. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 16, 219–231.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Edelbrock, C., Rende, R., Plomin, R., & Thompson, L. A., (in press). Genetic and environmental effects on competence and problem behavior in childhood and early adolescence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.Google Scholar
Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., Murphy, B., Karbon, M., & Maszk, P. (in press). The relations of children's dispositional empathy and related responding to their emotionality, regulation and social functioning. Developmental Psychology.Google Scholar
Eme, R. F. (1979). Sex differences in childhood psy-chopathology: A review. Psychological Bulletin, 86, 574–595.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischer, K. W., & Ayoub, C. (1994). Affective splitting and dissociation of normal and maltreated children: Developmental pathways for self in relationships. In Cicchetti, D. & Toth, S. (Eds.), Rochester symposium on developmental psychopathology: Vol. 5, Disorder and dysfunctions of the self (pp. 149–221). Rochester, NY: University of Rochester.Google Scholar
Fox, N. A. (1994). The development of emotion regulation: Biological and behavioral considerations. Monograplis of the Society for Research in Child Development. (Serial No. 240).Google Scholar
Garber, J., & Dodge, K. A. (Eds.). (1991). The development of emotion regulation and dysregulation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ge, X., Best, K. M., Conger, R. D., & Simons, R. L., (in press). Parenting behaviors and the occurrence and co-occurrence of adolescent depressive symptoms and conduct problems. Developmental Psychology.Google Scholar
Gershon, E. S., Schreiber, J. L., Hamovit, J. R., Dibble, E. D., & Kaye, W. (1984). Clinical findings in patients with anorexia nervosa and affective illness in their relatives. American Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 1419–1422.Google ScholarPubMed
Goldsmith, H. H. (1991). A zygosity questionnaire for young twins: A research note. Behavior Genetics, 21, 257–269.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gottesman, I. I., & Bertelsen, A. (1989). Confirming unexpressed genotypes for schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 46, 867–872.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Graham, P., & Stevenson, J. (1985). A twin study of behavioral deviance. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 24, 33–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hewitt, J. K., Silberg, J. L., Neale, M. C., Eaves, L. J., & Erickson, M. (1992). The analysis of parental ratings of children's behavior using LISREL. Behavior Genetics, 22, 293–317.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kagan, J., & Snidman, N. (1991). Infant predictors of inhibited and uninhibited profiles. Psychological Science, 2, 40–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kowalski, F. S. (1990). Social cognition in preschoolers at risk for conduct disorders. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA.Google Scholar
Lewis, M., & Miller, S. M. (1990). Handbook of Developmental Psychopathology, New York: Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loeber, R., & Hay, D. F. (in press). Developmental approaches to aggression and conduct problems. In Rutter, M. L. & Hay, D. F. (Eds.), Development through Life: A Handbook for Clinicians. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Malatesta, C. Z., & Wilson, A. (1988). Emotion/cognition interaction in personality development: A discrete emotions functionalist analysis. British Journal of Social Psychology, 27, 91–112.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nichols, R. C., & Bilbro, W. C. (1966). The diagnosis of twin zygosity. Acta Geneticae Medicae et Statistica, 16, 265–275.Google ScholarPubMed
Patterson, G. R. (1982). Coercive family process. Eugene, OR: Castalia.Google Scholar
Pauls, D. (1993). Behavioural disorders: Lessons in linkage. Nature Genetics, 3, 4–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pianta, R. C., & Caldwell, C. B. (1990). Stability of externalizing symptoms from kindergarten to first grade and factors related to instability. Development and Psychopathology, 2, 247–258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plomin, R., Emde, R. N., Braungart, J. M., Campos, J., Corley, R., Fulker, D. W., Kagan, J., Reznick, J. S., Robinson, J., Zahn-Waxler, C., & DeFries, J. C. (1993). Genetic change and continuity from fourteen to twenty months: The MacArthur longitudinal twin study, Child Development, 64, 1354–1376.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Plomin, R., Rende, R., & Rutter, M. (1991). Quantitative genetics and developmental psychopathology. In Cicchetti, D. & Toth, S. (Eds.), Rochester symposium on developmental psychopathology, 2 (pp. 155–202). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Reiss, D., Plomin, R., & Hetherington, E. M. (1991), Genetics and psychiatry: An unheralded window on the environment. American Journal of Psychiatry, 148, 283–291.Google ScholarPubMed
Richman, N., Stevenson, J. E., & Graham, P. J. (1982). Preschool to school: A behavioral study. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Robins, L. N. (1991). Conduct disorder. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 32, 193–212.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robins, L. N., & Price, R. K. (1991). Adult disorders predicted by childhood conduct problems: Results from the NIMH epidemiologic catchment area project. Psychiatry, 54, 116–132.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robinson, J., Mantz-Simmons, L., & MacFie, J. (1992). Narrative Coding Manual Unpublished manual.Google Scholar
Rose, S. L., Rose, S. A., & Feldman, J. R. (1989). Stability of behavior problems in very young children. Development and Psychopathology, 1, 5–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmitz, S., Cherny, S. S., Fulker, D. W., & Mrazek, D. A. (1994). Genetic and environmental influences on early childhood behavior. Behavior Genetics, 24, 25–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schmitz, S., Fulker, D. W., & Mrazek, D. A. (in press). Problem behavior in early and middle childhood: An initial behavior genetic analysis. The Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry & Allied Disciplines.Google Scholar
Silberg, J. L., Erickson, M. T., Meyer, J. M., Eaves, L. J., Rutter, M. L., & Hewitt, J. K. (1994). The application of structural equation modeling to maternal ratings of twins' behavioral and emotional problems. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62, 510–521.Google ScholarPubMed
Terman, L. M. & Merrill, M. A. (1973). Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, Form L-M: 1972 Norms Edition. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.Google Scholar
Thompson, R. (1994). Emotion regulation: A theme in search of definition. In N. A. Fox (Ed.), The development of emotion regulation: Biological and behavioral considerations. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development (pp. 2552). (Serial No. 240).Google Scholar
Van Den Oord, E. J. C. G. (1993). A genetic study of problem behavior in children. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of Rotterdam, Rotterdam.Google Scholar
Zahn-Waxler, C. (1993). Warriors and worriers: Gender and psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 5, 79–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zahn-Waxler, C., Cole, P. M., Richardson, D. T., Friedman, R. J., Michel, M. K., & Belouad, F. (1994). Social problem-solving in disruptive preschool children: Reactions to hypothetical situations of conflict and distress. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 40, 98–119.Google Scholar
Zahn-Waxler, C., Cole, P. M., Welsh, J. D., & Fox, N. A. (1995). Psychophysiological correlates of empathy and prosocial behaviors in preschool children with behavior problems. Development and Psychopathology, 7, 27–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zahn-Waxler, C., Iannotti, R. J., Cummings, E. M., & Denham, S. (1990). Antecedents of problem behaviors in children of depressed mothers. Development and Psychopathology, 2, 271–291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar