A longitudinal twin study of physical aggression during early childhood: evidence for a developmentally dynamic genome
Abstract
Background: Physical aggression (PA) tends to have its onset in infancy and to increase rapidly in frequency. Very little is known about the genetic and environmental etiology of PA development during early childhood. We investigated the temporal pattern of genetic and environmental etiology of PA during this crucial developmental period. Method: Participants were 667 twin pairs, including 254 monozygotic and 413 dizygotic pairs, from the ongoing longitudinal Quebec Newborn Twin Study. Maternal reports of PA were obtained from three waves of data at 20, 32 and 50 months. These reports were analysed using a biometric Cholesky decomposition and linear latent growth curve model. Results: The best-fitting Cholesky model revealed developmentally dynamic effects, mostly genetic attenuation and innovation. The contribution of genetic factors at 20 months substantially decreased over time, while new genetic effects appeared later on. The linear latent growth curve model revealed a significant moderate increase in PA from 20 to 50 months. Two separate sets of uncorrelated genetic factors accounted for the variation in initial level and growth rate. Non-shared and shared environments had no effect on the stability, initial status and growth rate in PA. Conclusions: Genetic factors underlie PA frequency and stability during early childhood; they are also responsible for initial status and growth rate in PA. The contribution of shared environment is modest, and perhaps limited, as it appears only at 50 months. Future research should investigate the complex nature of these dynamic genetic factors through genetic–environment correlation (rGE) and interaction (G × E) analyses.
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The effects of genetic factors on aggressive behaviors can change over time.
“Interestingly, the effects of genetic factors on aggressive behaviors can change over time [41]”
From Genetics of child aggression, a systematic review (2024) · cites this paper as [41]
Genetic factors account for the stability of physical aggression and can explain individual differences in the initial levels and rate of change of aggressive behaviors over time in a longitudinal Canadian sample.
“Although the magnitude of the influence may change, genetic factors still account for the stability of physical aggression as well as can explain the individual differences in the initial levels and the rate of change of aggressive behaviors over time in a longitudinal Canadian sample [41].”
From Genetics of child aggression, a systematic review (2024) · cites this paper as [41]
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Lacourse, E., Boivin, M., Brendgen, M., Petitclerc, A., Girard, A., Vitaro, F., Paquin, S., Ouellet-Morin, I., Dionne, G., & Tremblay, R. E.
- Affiliations
- CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center (CA)
- Columbia University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Boivin, M.
- Venue
- Psychological Medicine
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2014-01-21
- Volume
- 44
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 2617-2627
- ISSN
- 0033-2917 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-8978
- OpenAlex
- W1986503471
- Cited by
- 70
- References
- 63
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 5
- FWCI
- 11.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Canada Research Chairs
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
- Keywords
- physical aggression, early childhood, genetic etiology, developmental dynamics, monozygotic and dizygotic twins, shared environment, nonshared environment, Cholesky decomposition, latent growth curve models, genetic innovation
- MeSH terms
- Aggression, Child Development, Child, Preschool, Diseases in Twins, Female, Humans, Infant, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Quebec, Genome, Gene-Environment Interaction
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