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Genetic and Environmental Etiology of Effortful Control

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2012

Shinji Yamagata ,
Yusuke Takahashi ,
Nobuhiko Kijima ,
Hiroko Maekawa ,
Yutaka Ono  and
Juko Ando
Shinji Yamagata*
Affiliation:
Department of Cognitive and Behavioral Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. yamagata@bayes.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Yusuke Takahashi
Affiliation:
Department of Cognitive and Behavioral Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Nobuhiko Kijima
Affiliation:
Psychological Laboratory, Keio University, Kanagawa, Japan.
Hiroko Maekawa
Affiliation:
Faculty of Letters, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan.
Yutaka Ono
Affiliation:
Health Center, Keio University, Kanagawa, Japan.
Juko Ando
Affiliation:
Faculty of Letters, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan.
*
*Address for correspondence: Shinji Yamagata, Department of Cognitive and Behavioral Science, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Shigemasu Laboratory, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan.

Abstract

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We examined whether effortful control (EC), a temperament proposed by Rothbart and Bates (1998), has genetically coherent structure. A self- report measure of EC was administered to 450 Japanese twins (151 males and 299 females, ages 17 to 32 years) including 152 monozygotic and 73 dizygotic pairs. Univariate genetic analysis revealed that AE model fit best for the total EC as well as its subscales. The heritability estimate for total EC was 49%, and the estimates for subscales ranged between 32% and 45%. Multivariate genetic analysis revealed that the subscales of EC were genetically correlated to a high degree and environmentally correlated to a moderate degree. These results suggest that EC has substantial genetic basis and genetically coherent structure, supporting the validity of the construct. The implications to molecular genetic study and study of psychopathology were discussed.

Type
Articles
Information
Twin Research and Human Genetics , Volume 8 , Issue 4 , 01 August 2005 , pp. 300 - 306
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2005