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2 - Issues and New Directions in Personality Disorder Genetics

from Part I - Etiology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2020

By
Kerry L. Jang  and
Fiona Choi
Edited by
Carl W. Lejuez  and
Kim L. Gratz
Carl W. Lejuez
Affiliation:
University of Kansas
Kim L. Gratz
Affiliation:
University of Toledo, Ohio
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Summary

Much of the focus of personality disorder genetics has been aimed at identifying putative genes. Most of the research has been accomplished using a classical monozygotic and dizygotic twin design or adoption study methodologies. This vast body of research has repeatedly shown that the observed variability in personality disorder measures are directly attributable to the action of genes, but few, if any genetic loci have been reliably identified. The chapter explores the reasons for this failure such as the impact of a grand unitary theory of personality function that has created concepts and measures that are poorly suited for genetic studies. Moreover, there are inherent problems in genetic methodology, despite the faith in the latest gene hunting methods that have not been able to overcome psychometric and conceptual issues with personality constructs and measures. Indeed, attempts to revise measures and diagnostic entities have likely exacerbated the problems. Suggestions to overcome these issues, from shifting focus from descriptive personality constructs to active personality constructs such as behavioral choice, the development of personality endophenotypes, and new methods to incorporate data from unrelated individuals in gene hunting studies to increase power and detect small effects of multiple genes are discussed.

Keywords

personalitypersonality disordergeneticstwinsendophenotypespleiotrophygenomic-relatedness-matrix residual maximum likelihood analysis (GREML)heritabilitygene-environment interactionDSM-V
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Personality Disorders , pp. 29 - 39
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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