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Moderation of Genetic Factors by Parental Divorce in Adolescents' Evaluations of Family Functioning and Subjective Wellbeing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2012

Niels van der Aa ,
Dorret I. Boomsma ,
Irene Rebollo-Mesa ,
James J. Hudziak  and
Meike Bartels
Niels van der Aa*
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. n.van.der.aa@psy.vu.nl
Dorret I. Boomsma
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Irene Rebollo-Mesa
Affiliation:
Section of General Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, United Kingdom; Department of Biological Psychology, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
James J. Hudziak
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychiatry, Medicine, and Pediatrics, Vermont Center for Children, Youth and Families, University of Vermont, College of Medicine Burlington, Burlington, Vermont, United States of America; Department of Biological Psychology, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Meike Bartels
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; EMGO+ Institute, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
*
*Address for correspondence: Niels van der Aa, Department of Biological Psychology, VU University, Van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Abstract

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Adolescents' evaluations of family functioning may have a significant impact on their subjective well-being and adjustment. The aim of the study was to investigate the degree to which genetic and environmental influences affect variation in evaluations of general family functioning, family conflict, and quality of life and the overlap between them. We assessed whether genetic and environmental influences are moderated by parental divorce by analyzing self-report data from 6,773 adolescent twins and their non-twin siblings. Genetic, shared, and nonshared environmental influences accounted for variation in general family functioning and family conflict, with genetic influences being relatively more important in girls than boys in general family functioning. Genetic and nonshared environmental influences accounted for variation in quality of life, with genetic influences being relatively more important in girls. Evidence was found for interaction between genetic factors and parental divorce: genetic influence on general family functioning was larger in participants from divorced families. The overlap between general family functioning and quality of life, and family conflict and quality of life was accounted for the largest part by genetic effects, with nonshared environmental effects accounting for the remaining part. By examining the data from monozygotic twins, we found evidence for interaction between genotype and nonshared, non-measured, environmental influences on evaluations of general family functioning, family conflict, and quality of life.

Keywords

family functioningfamily conflictsubjective wellbeingparental divorcegene-environment interaction
Type
Articles
Information
Twin Research and Human Genetics , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , 01 April 2010 , pp. 143 - 162
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010