Genetic and Environmental Etiology of Effortful Control

Yamagata, Shinji; Takahashi, Yusuke; Kijima, Nobuhiko; Maekawa, Hiroko; Ono, Yutaka; Ando, Jun

doi:10.1375/1832427054936790

Cited by 35 publications

(44 citation statements)

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“…A few other studies have found differences in genetic and environmental influences by sex. However, the two reported twin studies of effortful control in the literature did not have the sample sizes necessary for testing sex differences; Goldsmith et al (1997) regressed out any effects of sex on parameter estimates, and Yamagata et al (2005) combined males and females and did not consider sex.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With a somewhat small sample of young twins, Goldsmith, Buss and Lemery (1997) reported that parent-reported effortful control was 43–58% heritable (with significant additive, but not interactive, genetic influences), with a small shared environmental influence (0–12%) and the rest of the variance attributed to nonshared environmental influences. Similarly, with a sample of young adult Japanese twins self-reporting on their effortful control, Yamagata and colleagues (2005) reported a heritability of 49% (with significant additive, but not interactive, genetic influences), with the rest of the variance attributed to nonshared environmental influences. No teacher report or observed measures of effortful control have been considered in genetically informative designs.…”

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confidence: 95%

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Genetic relations between effortful and attentional control and symptoms of psychopathology in middle childhood

Lemery‐Chalfant

Doelger

Goldsmith

2008

Infant and Child Development

108

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Elucidating the genetic and environmental etiology of effortful control (mother and father report at two time points), attentional control (observer reports) and their associations with internalizing and externalizing symptoms (mother and father report) is the central focus of this paper. With a sample of twins in middle childhood participating in the Wisconsin Twin Project, broad sense heritability for parental report effortful control ranged from 68–79%, with a slightly higher heritability estimate of 83% for observer report attentional control, and no influence of the shared environment on either trait. Further, measures of control were negatively correlated with internalizing and externalizing symptoms longitudinally, concurrently, and across reporters. Importantly, shared additive genetic influence accounted for the covariation between the control variables and symptoms of psychopathology. These results encourage identification of common genes that affect both effortful control and symptoms, and environmental triggers that uniquely influence symptoms of psychopathology.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 95%

Genetic relations between effortful and attentional control and symptoms of psychopathology in middle childhood

Lemery‐Chalfant

Doelger

Goldsmith

2008

Infant and Child Development

108

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“…With respect to attention and effortful control, twin and adoption studies have shown the emergence of moderate to substantial heritable variance over early and middle childhood, [62][63][64][65] as well as in adulthood. 66 More recent research using a multi-informant behavioral ratings measure (teachers, testers, and observers) of attention span and task persistence suggests a shift in heritable variance from 3 to 8 years of age. Among preschoolers, heritability estimates tend to be modest or highly variable across measures 67,68 but may become more substantial and consistent by the time children complete the transition to formal schooling.…”

Section: Self-regulation and Genetic Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biological Systems and the Development of Self-Regulation: Integrating Behavior, Genetics, and Psychophysiology

Bell

Deater‐Deckard

2007

Journal of Developmental &Amp; Behavioral Pediatrics

144

124

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Self-regulation is the ability to control inner states or responses with respect to thoughts, emotions, attention, and performance. As such, it is a critical aspect of development and fundamental to personality and behavioral adjustment. In this review, we focus on attentional, cognitive, and emotional control as we discuss the genetic mechanisms and brain mechanisms that contribute to individual differences in self-regulation. We conclude with a discussion of the implications for deviations in the development of this complex construct and suggestions for future research. (J Dev Behav Pediatr 28:409-420, 2007) Index terms: self-regulation, controlled attention, temperament, brain mechanisms, genetic mechanisms Whatexpl ains the remarkable variation between children in how well they adapt to their ever changing environments? In part, the answer lies in self-regulation, a critical aspect of development in infancy, early childhood, and beyond. A set of developing regulatory processes appears to be fundamental to individual differences in personality development and behavioral adjustment 1-3 and includes biological components such as physiology, neurobiology, and genes, and situational components such as parenting, environment, and experience. 4,5 As such, self-regulation can be examined at many different levels and can have multiple definitions. 6 This necessarily makes self-regulation a complex construct and developmentalists have typically simplified the study of self-regulation by focusing only on one or two of these conceptual levels at a time, such as the regulation of emotion. 2,7 There is general agreement, however, that self-regulation operates at the physiological, attentional, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral levels. 1,8,9 In this review, we define self-regulation as the ability to control inner states or responses with respect to thoughts, emotions, attention, and performance. 6 Thus, our conceptualization of self-regulation could be described as cognitive control and emotion control. Within this conceptualization, we highlight attentional control as the mechanism for early developing self-regulation in both the cognitive and emotional domains. 10 -12 As such, we go beyond the typical focus on relationships between either cognitive functioning or attentional control and consequential emotion regulation 5,7 and provide a more dynamic view of self-regulatory processes. 11 Our focus in this review is on the biological components of developing self-regulation, as the situational and contextual components have been reviewed elsewhere. 6,7 We begin by highlighting the psychobiological framework that we use in conceptualizing regulatory processes. Then we discuss biological mechanisms of selfregulation associated with the development of specific cognitive and emotion behaviors. Because of our focus on psychobiology, we next examine genetic and brain mechanisms of self-regulation processes by integrating the functions associated with central nervous system and autonomic nervous system networks tha...

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“…The available twin studies show that conscientiousness and effortful control are both moderately heritable (Jang, Livesley, & Vernon, 1996;Yamagata, Takahashi, Kijima, Maekawa, Ono, & Ando, 2005), thus suggesting a biological mechanism underlying these dimensions of personality and temperament. However, it is currently unclear whether these variables are influenced by a common set of genes.…”

Section: Other Forms Of Affect-regulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This finding also suggests that avoidance is an interpersonal form of affect regulation that may differentiate it from conscientiousness and effortful control. We know that conscientiousness and effortful control are influenced by genetic factors (Jang et al, 1996;Yamagata et al, 2005); as such, they may represent an affect regulation system that is more biologically mediated than avoidant attachment. However, further research into conscientiousness is needed to confirm that it develops out of emotion regulation associated with effortful control in infants and children; additional research is also needed to determine whether any specific biological mechanisms mediate the association between these variables.…”

Section: Avoidant Attachmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

How affect regulation moderates the association between anxious attachment and neuroticism

Crawford

Shaver

Goldsmith

2007

Attachment & Human Development

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Correlations between anxious attachment and neuroticism (usually about .40 to .50) prompt questions about whether self-reported anxious attachment captures a key construct in attachment theory or if it reflects a more general personality trait instead. A college sample of late adolescents and young adults (N = 287) was used to show that questionnaire measures of neuroticism and anxious attachment do not have a simple linear association; instead, neuroticism and anxious attachment have a more complex dynamic relationship that is moderated by avoidant attachment, an attachment style that reflects an interpersonally derived strategy for affect regulation. The association between neuroticism and anxious attachment is further moderated by conscientiousness, a personality trait that may reflect a more biologically mediated system of affect regulation. These separate moderating effects and the different affect regulation systems they reflect are discussed in the context of longstanding debates about how personality traits and attachment styles influence each other.

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Genetic and Environmental Etiology of Effortful Control

Cited by 35 publications

References 50 publications

Genetic relations between effortful and attentional control and symptoms of psychopathology in middle childhood

Genetic relations between effortful and attentional control and symptoms of psychopathology in middle childhood

Biological Systems and the Development of Self-Regulation: Integrating Behavior, Genetics, and Psychophysiology

How affect regulation moderates the association between anxious attachment and neuroticism

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