Abstract
BackgroundUnderstanding the etiology of adolescent problem behavior has been of enduring interest. Only relatively recently, however, has this issue been examined within a normal personality trait framework. Research suggests that problem behaviors in adolescence and beyond may be adequately explained by the taxonomy provided by the basic dimensions of normal personality: Such problem behaviors are suggested to be extreme points on a distribution of the full range of the underlying traits. We extend work in this field examining the extent to which genetic factors underlying the five-factor model of personality are common with genetic influences on adolescent behavior problems (namely, anxiety, peer problems, conduct, hyperactivity, and low prosociality).MethodA nationally representative twin sample (Twins Early Development Study) from the general population of England and Wales, including 2031 pairs of twins aged 16 years old, was used to decompose variation into genetic and environmental components. Behavioral problems in adolescence were assessed by self-report with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.ResultsAdolescent behavior problems were moderately associated with normal personality: Specifically, a fifth to a third of phenotypic variance in problem behaviors was accounted for by five-factor model personality traits. Of central importance here, genetic influences underpinning personality were entirely overlapping with those genetic factors underlying adolescent behavior problems.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that adolescent behavior problems can be understood, at least in part, within a model of normal personality trait variation, with the genetic bases of these behavior problems the same as those genetic influences underpinning normal personality.Read the Commentary for this article on doi: 10.1111/jcpp.12292
Highlights
Understanding the etiology of adolescent behavioral problems – such as problems with peer relations, hyperactivity, conduct, anxiety, and prosociality – is of importance as such behaviors show links to broad-based life and psychosocial outcomes (Rutter, 1995)
We extend work in this field examining the extent to which genetic factors underlying the five-factor model of personality are common with genetic influences on adolescent behavior problems
These results confirm work suggesting that adolescent problem behaviors can, in part, be integrated within the normal personality lexicon
Summary
Understanding the etiology of adolescent behavioral problems – such as problems with peer relations, hyperactivity, conduct, anxiety, and (low) prosociality – is of importance as such behaviors show links to broad-based life and psychosocial outcomes (Rutter, 1995). While psychopathologies are often viewed from a qualitative perspective (i.e., absence vs presentation of a problem behavior: American Psychiatric Association, 2000), recent work (Krueger et al, 2011; Widiger & Trull, 2007) has sought to account for individual differences in such behaviors within a model of normal personality traits, such that problem behaviors reflect extreme points on the full range of the respective personality traits This debate is of substantial contemporary importance in light of the proposition to conceptualize personality disorders from a dimensional perspective for the fifth edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) (Krueger et al, 2011).
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