Externalizing problems in childhood and adolescence predict subsequent educational achievement but for different genetic and environmental reasons - PubMed (original) (raw)

Externalizing problems in childhood and adolescence predict subsequent educational achievement but for different genetic and environmental reasons

Gary J Lewis et al. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2017 Mar.

Abstract

Background: Childhood behavior problems predict subsequent educational achievement; however, little research has examined the etiology of these links using a longitudinal twin design. Moreover, it is unknown whether genetic and environmental innovations provide incremental prediction for educational achievement from childhood to adolescence.

Methods: We examined genetic and environmental influences on parental ratings of behavior problems across childhood (age 4) and adolescence (ages 12 and 16) as predictors of educational achievement at age 16 using a longitudinal classical twin design.

Results: Shared-environmental influences on anxiety, conduct problems, and peer problems at age 4 predicted educational achievement at age 16. Genetic influences on the externalizing behaviors of conduct problems and hyperactivity at age 4 predicted educational achievement at age 16. Moreover, novel genetic and (to a lesser extent) nonshared-environmental influences acting on conduct problems and hyperactivity emerged at ages 12 and 16, adding to the genetic prediction from age 4.

Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that genetic and shared-environmental factors underpinning behavior problems in early childhood predict educational achievement in midadolescence. These findings are consistent with the notion that early-childhood behavior problems reflect the initiation of a life-course persistent trajectory with concomitant implications for social attainment. However, we also find evidence that genetic and nonshared-environment innovations acting on behavior problems have implications for subsequent educational achievement, consistent with recent work arguing that adolescence represents a sensitive period for socioaffective development.

Keywords: Education; Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire; behavior problems; genetics; longitudinal; twin study.

© 2016 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

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Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

Graphical representation of the longitudinal Cholesky decomposition for Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (

SDQ

) traits and educational achievement. A = additive genetic influences; shared‐ and nonshared‐environmental influences were also modeled, and took the same form as the A pathways (i.e. C 4, C 12, C 16, E 4, E 12, and E 16), but are omitted here in the interests of visual clarity;

SDQ

‐16 was only available for conduct, hyperactivity, and prosociality

Figure 2

Figure 2

Phenotypic Cholesky decomposition modeling results for Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (

SDQ

) traits and educational achievement. Bolded lines = p < .05; P = phenotypic effects; 4/12/16 = age 4/12/16; values are standardized path loadings. (A) Details the model for conduct problems and educational achievement; (B) details the model for hyperactivity and educational achievement; (C) details the model for prosociality and educational achievement; (D) details the model for anxiety and educational achievement; and (E) details the model for peer problems and educational achievement

Figure 3

Figure 3

Longitudinal additive genetic modeling results for Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (

SDQ

) traits and educational achievement. Bolded lines = p < .05; A = additive genetic effects; 4/12/16 = age 4/12/16; values are standardized path loadings. (A) Details the model for conduct problems and educational achievement; (B) details the model for hyperactivity and educational achievement; (C) details the model for prosociality and educational achievement; (D) details the model for anxiety and educational achievement; and (E) details the model for peer problems and educational achievement

Figure 4

Figure 4

Longitudinal shared‐environment modeling results for Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (

SDQ

) traits and educational achievement. Bolded lines = p < .05; C = shared‐environment effects; 4/12/16 = age 4/12/16; values are standardized path loadings. (A) Details the model for conduct problems and educational achievement; (B) details the model for hyperactivity and educational achievement; (C) details the model for prosociality and educational achievement; (D) details the model for anxiety and educational achievement; and (E) details the model for peer problems and educational achievement

Figure 5

Figure 5

Longitudinal nonshared‐environment modeling results for Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (

SDQ

) traits and educational achievement. Bolded lines = p < .05; E = nonshared‐environment effects; 4/12/16 = age 4/12/16; values are standardized path loadings. (A) Details the model for conduct problems and educational achievement; (B) details the model for hyperactivity and educational achievement; (C) details the model for prosociality and educational achievement; (D) details the model for anxiety and educational achievement; and (E) details the model for peer problems and educational achievement

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