A twin study of genetic and environmental contributions to gender differences in traits delineating personality disorder

✍ Scribed by Kerry L. Jang; W. John Livesley; Philip A. Vernon

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 175 KB
• Volume: 12
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0890-2070
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-0984(1998090)12:5<331::aid-per331>3.0.co;2-d

✦ Synopsis

The present study applied biometric genetic analyses to determine whether traits delineating personality disorders are in¯uenced by gender-speci®c genetic and environmental in¯uences. The sample consisted of 681 volunteer general population twin pairs (128 monozygotic male, 208 monozygotic female, 75 dizygotic males, 174 dizygotic females, and 96 dizygotic opposite-sex pairs). All twin pairs completed the Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology (DAPP-BQ) which yields 18 basic and four highorder dimensions of personality dysfunction. Heritability analyses showed that all dimensions except Submissiveness in males, and Cognitive Dysfunction, Compulsivity, Conduct Problems, Suspiciousness, and Self-harm in females were signi®cantly heritable. Sex-by-genotype analyses suggested that the genetic in¯uences underlying all but four DAPP-BQ dimensions (Stimulus Seeking, Callousness, Rejection, and Insecure Attachment) were speci®c to each gender, whereas the in¯uence of the environment was found to be the same in both genders across all dimensions. All four higher-order dimensions were also heritable across sex and in common to both genders except female dissocial personality dimensions in females, for which no heritable basis was found.