Genetic and Environmental Contributions to Self-Report Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms in Dutch Adolescents at Ages 12, 14, and 16

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Abstract

Objective

To determine the contributions of genetic and environmental influences to variation in self-report of obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms in a population-based twin sample of adolescent boys and girls.

Method

Self-report ratings on the eight-item Youth Self-Report Obsessive-Compulsive Scale were collected in Dutch mono- and dizygotic twin pairs who participated at age 12 (N = 746 twin pairs), 14 (N = 963 pairs), or 16 years (N = 1,070 pairs). Structural equation modeling was used to break down the variation in liability to OC symptoms into genetic and environmental components.

Results

At age 12, no difference in prevalence was found for OC symptoms in boys and girls. At ages 14 and 16, the prevalence was higher in girls. At all ages, genetic factors contributed significantly to variation on OC symptom liability; 27% at the age of 12,57% at the age of 14, and 54% at the age of 16. There were no sex differences in heritability. Only at age 12, environmental factors shared by children from the same family contributed significantly (16%) to individual differences in OC symptom scores.

Conclusions

During adolescence, OC symptoms are influenced by genetic and nonshared environmental factors. Sex differences in prevalence, but not heritability, emerge in adolescence. At age 12, shared environmental factors are of importance, but their influence disappears at later ages. This is in line with earlier research at age 12 that used parental ratings of OC symptoms. Thus, between-family factors play a significant role in explaining individual differences in OC symptoms at this age. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 2008;47(10):1182–1188.

Section snippets

Participants

The study was part of an ongoing study of emotional and problem behavior in young twins who are registered with the Netherlands Twin Register.21, 22 We analyzed data from twin pairs who reported on their behavior with the YSR-OCS when they were 12, 14, or 16 years old.22 A survey that contained the YSR-OCS was send by mail to the twins, after parents gave consent. Twins who did not return the forms within 2 months received a reminder. The overall family response rate was 56.1%.

Zygosity was

Results

In the saturated model, no effect of birth order or zygosity was detected at any age (p values > .05) on the thresholds. There was no sex effect on the thresholds at age 12 (χ23 = 2.16., p = .54). However, at ages 14 and 16, the thresholds were significantly lower for girls (χ23 = 43.94, p < .001 and χ23 = 42.57, p < .001, respectively), indicating that girls score higher than boys on the YSR-OCS at the ages of 14 and 16.

Polychoric twin correlations are presented in Table 3 as a function of

Discussion

To our knowledge, this is the first twin study of OC symptoms in adolescents, revealing that individual differences in OC symptoms are heritable throughout puberty, with shared environmental influences only playing a role at the beginning of adolescence. No sex differences in heritability estimations were found, and individual differences in OC symptoms are influenced by the same additive genetic factors in boys and girls. Female adolescents scored higher on the OCS than males at the ages of 14

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    This article was reviewed under and accepted by Ad Hoc Editor Kenneth Towbin, M.D.

    This research was supported by ZonMw, grant 920-03-268 and NWO, grant 400-03-330. Data collection was supported by “Genetic Basis of Anxiety and Depression” (NWO grant 904-61-090), “Bilateral Agreement” (NWO grant 463-06-001), “Database Twin Register” (NWO grant 575-25-006), “Spinozapemie” (NWO/SPI 56-464-14192), CNCR (Centre Neurogeetics Cognition Research), Center for Medical Systems Biology: Multifactorial Diseases: Common Determinants, Unifying Technologies (NWO Genomics), “Twin-Family Database for Behavior Genetics and Genomics Studies” (NWO grant 480-04-004). Dr. Bartels is financially supported by NWO (VENI grant 451-04-034). The authors are grateful to the twins for their participation.

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    Copyright © 2008 American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.