Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T05:41:17.445Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Relationship Between the Genetic and Environmental Influences on Common Externalizing Psychopathology and Mental Wellbeing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2012

Kenneth S. Kendler ,
John M. Myers  and
Corey L. M. Keyes
Kenneth S. Kendler*
Affiliation:
Virginia Institute of Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, United States of America Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, United States of America Department of Human and Molecular Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, United States of America
John M. Myers
Affiliation:
Virginia Institute of Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, United States of America Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, United States of America
Corey L. M. Keyes
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Emory University, United States of America
*
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE: Kenneth Kendler, MD, Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University Medical School, Box 980126, 800 E. Leigh Street, Room 1–123, Richmond, VA 23298-0126. Email: kendler@hsc.vcu.edu

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

To determine the relationship between the genetic and environmental risk factors for externalizing psychopathology and mental wellbeing, we examined detailed measures of emotional, social and psychological wellbeing, and a history of alcohol-related problems and smoking behavior in the last year in 1,386 individual twins from same-sex pairs from the MIDUS national US sample assessed in 1995. Cholesky decomposition analyses were performed withthe Mx program. The best fit model contained one highly heritable common externalizing psychopathology factor for both substance use/abuse measures, and one strongly heritable common factor for the three wellbeing measures. Genetic and environmental risk factors for externalizing psychopathology were both negatively associated with levels of mental wellbeing and accounted for, respectively, 7% and 21% of its genetic and environmental influences. Adding internalizing psychopathology assessed in the last year to the model, genetic risk factors unique for externalizing psychopathology were now positively related to levels of mental wellbeing, although accounting for only 5% of the genetic variance. Environmental risk factors unique to externalizing psychopathology continued to be negatively associated with mental wellbeing, accounting for 26% of the environmental variance. When both internalizing psychopathology and externalizing psychopathology are associated with mental wellbeing, the strongest risk factors for low mental wellbeing are genetic factors that impact on both internalizing psychopathology and externalizing psychopathology, and environmental factors unique to externalizing psychopathology. In this model, genetic risk factors for externalizing psychopathology predict, albeit weakly, higher levels of mental wellbeing.

Keywords

wellbeinsubstance abuseexternalizing disorderstwin studies
Type
Articles
Information
Twin Research and Human Genetics , Volume 14 , Issue 6 , December 2011 , pp. 516 - 523
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

References

Andrews, F. M. & Withey, S. B. (1976). Social indicators of well-being: Americans' perceptions of life quality. New York: Plenum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradburn, N. M. (1969). The structure of psychological well-being. Chicago: Aldine.Google Scholar
Cantril, H. (1965). The pattern of human concerns. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Diego, M. A., Field, T. M., & Sanders, C. E. (2003). Academic performance, popularity, and depression predict adolescent substance use. Adolescence, 38, 35–42.Google ScholarPubMed
Dubow, E. F., Boxer, P., & Huesmann, L. R. (2008). Childhood and adolescent predictors of early and middle adulthood alcohol use and problem drinking: The Columbia County Longitudinal Study. Addiction, 103, 36–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eissenberg, T. & Balster, R. L. (2000). Initial tobacco use episodes in children and adolescents: current knowledge, future directions. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 59, S41–S60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gallagher, M. W., Lopez, S. J., & Preacher, K. J. (2009). The hierarchical structure of well-being. Journal of Personality, 77, 1025–1050.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gurin, G., Veroff, J., & Feld, S. (1960). Americans view their mental health. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Hettema, J. M., Neale, M. C., & Kendler, K. S. (2001). A review and meta-analysis of the genetic epidemiology of anxiety disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 1568–1578.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hicks, B. M., Krueger, R. F., Iacono, W. G., McGue, M., & Patrick, C. J. (2004). Family transmission and heritability of externalizing disorders: A twin-family study. Archives of General Psychiatry, 61, 922–928.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hicks, B. M., Schalet, B. D., Malone, S. M., Iacono, W. G., & McGue, M. (2011). Psychometric and genetic architecture of substance use disorder and behavioral disinhibition measures for gene association studies. Behavior Genetics, 41, 459–475.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendler, K. S., Aggen, S., Knudsen, G. P., Roysamb, E., Neale, M., & Reichborn-Kjennerud, T. (2011a). The structure of genetic and environmental risk factors for syndromal and subsyndromal common DSM-IV Axis I and all Axis II personality disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry, 168, 29–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendler, K. S., Gatz, M., Gardner, C., & Pedersen, N. (2006). A Swedish National Twin Study of Lifetime Major Depression. American Journal of Psychiatry, 163, 109–114.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendler, K. S., Myers, J. M., Maes, H. H., & Keyes, C. L. (2011b). The relationship between the genetic and environmental influences on common internalizing psychiatric disorders and mental well-being. Behavior Genetics.Google Scholar
Kendler, K. S., Neale, M. C., Sullivan, P., Corey, L. A., Gardner, C. O., & Prescott, C. A. (1999). A population-based twin study in women of smoking initiation and nicotine dependence. Psychological Medicine, 29, 299–308.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendler, K. S., Prescott, C. A., Myers, J., & Neale, M. C. (2003). The structure of genetic and environmental risk factors for common psychiatric and substance use disorders in men and women. Archives of General Psychiatry, 60, 929–937.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kessler, R. C., Andrews, G., Mroczek, D. K., Ustun, B., & Wittchen, H.-U. (1998). The World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview Short Form (CIDI-SF). International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, 7, 171–185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kessler, R. C., DuPont, R. L., Berglund, P., & Wittchen, H. U. (1999). Impairment in pure and comorbid generalized anxiety disorder and major depression at 12 months in two national surveys. American Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 1915–1923.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keyes, C. L. M. (1998). Social well-being. Social Psychology Quarterly, 61, 121–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keyes, C. L. M. (2002). The mental health continuum: From languishing to flourishing in life. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 43, 207–222.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keyes, C. L. M. (2005). Mental illness and/or mental health? Investigating axioms of the complete state model of health. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 73, 539–548.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kringelbach, M. L. & Berridge, K. C. (2009). Towards a functional neuroanatomy of pleasure and happiness. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13, 479–487.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Krueger, R. F. (1999). The structure of common mental disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry, 56, 921–926.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Krueger, R. F., Markon, K. E., Patrick, C. J., & Iacono, W. (2005). Externalizing psychopathology in adulthood: A dimensional-spectrum conceptualization and its implications for DSM-V. Journal of Abnormal Psycholgy, 114, 537–550.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Krueger, R. F., McGue, M., & Iacono, W. G. (2001). The higher-order structure of common DSM mental disorders: Internalization, externalization, and their connections to personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 30, 1245–1259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lang, I., Wallace, R. B., Huppert, F. A., & Melzer, D. (2007). Moderate alcohol consumption in older adults is associated with better cognition and well-being than abstinence. Age Ageing, 36, 256–261.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lykken, D. & Tellegen, A. (1996). Happiness is a stochastic phenomenn. Psychological Science, 7, 186–189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lykken, D. T., Bouchard, T. J. Jr., McGue, M., & Tellegen, A. (1990). The Minnesota Twin Family Registry: Some initial findings. Acta Geneticae Medicae et Gemellologiae, 39, 35–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Markon, K. E. & Krueger, R. F. (2004). An empirical comparison of information-theoretic selection criteria for multivariate behavior genetic models. Behavior Genetics, 34, 593–610.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mayfield, R. D., Harris, R. A., & Schuckit, M. A. (2008). Genetic factors influencing alcohol dependence. British Journal of Pharmacology, 154, 275–287.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mroczek, D. K. & Kolarz, C. M. (1998). The effect of age on positive and negative affect: a developmental perspective on happiness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 1333–1349.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Neale, M. C., Boker, S. M., Xie, G., & Maes, H. H. (2003). Mx: Statistical Modeling (6th ed.) Richmond, VA: Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University Medical School.Google Scholar
Neale, M. C., Eaves, L. J., & Kendler, K. S. (1994). The power of the classical twin study to resolve variation in threshold traits. Behavior Genetics, 24, 239–258.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nes, R. B., Roysamb, E., Tambs, K., Harris, J. R., & Reichborn-Kjennerud, T. (2006). Subjective well-being: genetic and environmental contributions to stability and change. Psychological Medicine, 36, 1033–1042.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Newcomb, M. D. & Bentler, P. M. (1988). Impact of adolescent drug use and social support on problems of young adults: A longitudinal study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 97, 64–75.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Prescott, C. A. & Gottesman, I. (1993, October). Power limitations in detecting heterogeneity of genetic effects: The case of sex differences in alcoholism. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Research on Psychopathology, Chicago).Google Scholar
Robitschek, C. & Keyes, C. L. M. (2009). Keyes's model of mental health with personal growth initiative as a parsimonious predictor. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 56, 321–329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roysamb, E., Tambs, K., Reichborn-Kjennerud, T., Neale, M. C., & Harris, J. R. (2003). Happiness and health: Environmental and genetic contributions to the relationship between subjective well-being, perceived health, and somatic illness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 1136–1146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryff, C. D. & Keyes, C. L. (1995). The structure of psychological well-being revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 719–727.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Selzer, M. L. (1971). The Michigan alcoholism screening test: The quest for a new diagnostic instrument. American Journal of Psychiatry, 127, 1653–1658.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stubbe, J. H., Posthuma, D., Boomsma, D. I., & de Geus, E. J. (2005). Heritability of life satisfaction in adults: A twin-family study. Psychological Medicine, 35, 1581–1588.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sullivan, P. F., Neale, M. C., & Kendler, K. S. (2000). Genetic epidemiology of major depression: Review and meta-analysis. American Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 1552–1562.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tuvblad, C., Eley, T. C., & Lichtenstein, P. (2005). The development of antisocial behaviour from childhood to adolescence. A longitudinal twin study. European Child Adolescent Psychiatry, 14, 216–225.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Valente, T. W., Unger, J. B., & Johnson, C. A. (2005). Do popular students smoke? The association between popularity and smoking among middle school students. Journal of Adolescent Health, 37, 323–329.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed