Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T21:41:07.888Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

How are parent–child conflict and childhood externalizing symptoms related over time? Results from a genetically informative cross-lagged study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2005

S. ALEXANDRA BURT ,
MATT McGUE ,
ROBERT F. KRUEGER  and
WILLIAM G. IACONO
S. ALEXANDRA BURT
Affiliation:
Michigan State University
MATT McGUE
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota
ROBERT F. KRUEGER
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota
WILLIAM G. IACONO
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The present study attempted to determine the direction and etiology of the robust relationship between childhood externalizing (EXT) symptoms and parent–child conflict using a genetically informative longitudinal model and data from the ongoing Minnesota Twin Family Study. Participants consisted of 1,506 same-sex twins assessed at ages 11 and 14, and their parents. The relationship between EXT and parent–child conflict from ages 11 to 14 was examined within a biometrical cross-lagged design. The results revealed three primary findings: first, the stability of conflict and externalizing over time is largely, although not solely, a result of genetic factors. Second, there appears to be a bidirectional relationship between conflict and EXT over time, such that both conflict and EXT at 11 independently predict the other 3 years later. Finally, the results are consistent with the notion that parent–child conflict partially results from parental responses to their child's heritable externalizing behavior, while simultaneously contributing to child externalizing via environmental mechanisms. These results suggest a “downward spiral” of interplay between parent–child conflict and EXT, and offer confirmation of a (partially) environmentally mediated effect of parenting on child behavior.This research was funded in part by USPHS grants (DA05147, DA13240, AA09367, AA00175, MH 65137), a National Institutes of Mental Health training grant (MH17069 to S.A.B.), and a Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (S.A.B.). We also thank Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis for the research time that enabled the primary author to conduct this study.

Type
Research Article
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , March 2005 , pp. 145 - 165
Copyright
© 2005 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Achenbach, T. M., McConaughy, S. H., & Howell, C. T. (1987). Child/adolescent behavioral and emotional problems: Implications of cross-informant correlations for situational specificity. Psychological Bulletin 101, 213–232.Google Scholar
Anderson, K. E., Lytton, H., & Romney, D. M. (1986). Mothers' interactions with normal and conduct-disordered boys: Who affects whom? Developmental Psychology 22, 604–609.Google Scholar
Barkley, R. A., & Cunningham, C. E. (1979). The effects of methylphenidate on the mother–child interactions of hyperactive children. Archives of General Psychiatry 36, 201–208.Google Scholar
Barkley, R. A., Karlsson, J., Pollard, S., & Murphy, J. V. (1985). Developmental changes in the mother–child interactions of hyperactive boys: Effects of two dose levels of Ritalin. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 26, 705–715.Google Scholar
Bates, J. E., Petit, G. S., Dodge, K. A., & Ridge, B. (1998). Interaction of temperamental resistance to control and restrictive parenting on the development of externalizing behavior. Developmental Psychology 34, 982–995.Google Scholar
Burt, S. A., Krueger, R. F., McGue, M., & Iacono, W. G. (2001). Sources of covariation among attention–deficit/hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and conduct disorder: The importance of shared environment. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 110, 516–525.Google Scholar
Burt, S. A., Krueger, R., McGue, M., & Iacono, W. (2003). Parent–child conflict and the comorbidity among childhood eternalizing disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry 60, 505–513.Google Scholar
Cadoret, R. J., Yates, W. R., Troughton, E., Woodworth, G., & Stewart, M. A. (1995). Genetic–environmental interaction in the genesis of aggressivity and conduct disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry, 52, 916–924.Google Scholar
Campbell, S. B., Pierce, E. W., Moore, G., Marakovitz, S., & Newby, K. (1996). Boys' externalizing problems at elementary school age: Pathways from early behavior problems, maternal control, and family stress. Development and Psychopathology 8, 701–719.Google Scholar
Caspi, A., Taylor, A., Moffitt, T. E., & Plomin, R. (2000). Neighborhood deprivation affects children's mental health: Environmental risks identified in a genetic design. Psychological Science 11, 338–342.Google Scholar
Collins, W. A., Maccoby, E. E., Steinberg, L., Hetherington, E. M., & Bornstein, M. H. (2000). Contemporary research on parenting: The case for nature and nurture. American Psychologist 55, 218–232.Google Scholar
Deater–Deckard, K., Dodge, K. A., Bates, J. E., & Pettit, G. S. (1998). Multiple risk factors in the development of externalizing behavior problems: Group and individual differences. Development and Psychopathology 10, 469–493.Google Scholar
Dishion, T. J., Andrews, D. W., Kavanagh, K., & Soberman, L. H. (1996). Preventive interventions for high-risk youth: The Adolescent Transitions Program. In R. D. Peters & R. J. McMahon (Eds.), Preventing childhood disorders, substance use, and delinquency (pp. 184–214). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Dishion, T. J., & Kavanagh, K. (2000). A multilevel approach to family-centered prevention in schools: Process and outcome. Addictive Behaviors 25, 899–911.Google Scholar
Eaves, L. J., Silberg, J. L., Meyers, J. M., Maes, H. H., Simonoff, E., Pickles, A., Rutter, M., Neale, M. C., Reynolds, C. A., Erikson, M. T., Heath, A. C., Loeber, R., Truett, K. R., & Hewitt, J. K. (1997). Genetics and developmental psychopathology: 2. The main effects of genes and environment on behavioral problems in the Virginia twin study of adolescent development. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 38, 965–980.Google Scholar
Elkins, I. J., McGue, M., & Iacono, W. G. (1997). Genetic and environmental influences on parent–son relationships: Evidence for increasing genetic influence during adolescence. Developmental Psychology 33, 351–363.Google Scholar
Forehand, R., Biggar, H., & Kotchick, B. A. (1998). Cumulative risk across family stressors: Short- and long-term effects for adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 26, 119–128.Google Scholar
Forgatch, M. S., & DeGarmo, D. S. (1999). Parenting thought change: An effective prevention program for single mothers. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 67, 711–724.Google Scholar
Gardner, F. E. M., Sonuga–Barke, E. J. S., & Sayal, K. (1999). Parents anticipating misbehaviour: An observational study of strategies parents use to prevent conflict with behaviour problem children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 40, 1185–1196.Google Scholar
Ge, X., Conger, R. D., Cadoret, R. J., Neiderhiser, J. M., Yates, W., Troughton, E., & Stewart, M. A. (1996). The developmental interface between nature and nurture: A mutual influence model of child antisocial behavior and parent behaviors. Developmental Psychology 32, 574–589.Google Scholar
Hettema, J. M., Neale, M. C., & Kendler, K. S. (1995). Physical similarity and the equal environments assumption in twin studies of psychiatric disorders. Behavior Genetics 25, 327–335.Google Scholar
Hewitt, J. K., Silberg, J. L., Rutter, M., Simonoff, E., Meyer, J. M., Maes, H., Pickles, A., Neale, M. C., Loeber, R., Erickson, M. T., Kendler, K. S., Heath, A. C., Truett, K. R., Reynolds, C. A., & Eaves, L. J. (1997). Genetics and developmental psychopathology: 1. Phenotypic assessment in the Virginia twin study of adolescent behavioral development. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 38, 943–963.Google Scholar
Hur, Y.-M., McGue, M., & Iacono, W. G. (1995). Unequal rate of monozygotic and like-sex dizygotic twin births: Evidence from the Minnesota Twin Family Study. Behavior, Genetics 25, 337–340.Google Scholar
Iacono, W. G., Carlson, S. R., Taylor, J., Elkins, I. J., & McGue, M. (1999). Behavioral disinhibition and the development of substance use disorders: Findings from the Minnesota Twin Family Study. Development and Psychopathology 11, 869–900.Google Scholar
Kendler, K. S., Neale, M. C., Kessler, R. C., Heath, A. C., & Eaves, L. J. (1993). The test of the equal-environment assumption in twin studies pf psychiatric illness. Behavior Genetics 23, 21–27.Google Scholar
Kerr, M., & Stattin, H. (2000). What parents know, how they know it, and several forms of adolescent adjustment: Further support for a reinterpretation of monitoring. Developmental Psychology 36, 366–380.Google Scholar
Little, R. J. A., & Rubin, D. B. (1987). Statistical analyses with missing data. New York: Wiley.
Loehlin, J. C. (1998). Latent variable models: An introduction to factor, path, and structural analysis. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Loukas, A., Fitzgerald, H. E., Zucker, R. A., & von Eye, A. (2001). Parental alcoholism and co-occurring antisocial behavior: Prospective relationships to externalizing behavior problems in their young sons. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 29, 91–106.Google Scholar
Lyons, M. J., True, W. R., Eisen, S. A., Goldberg, J., Meyer, J. M., Faraone, S. V., Eaves, L. J., & Tsuang, M. T. (1995). Differential heritability of adult and juvenile antisocial traits. Archives of General Psychiatry 52, 906–915.Google Scholar
Lytton, H. (1990). Child and parent effects in boys' conduct disorder: A reinterpretation. Developmental Psychology 26, 683–697.Google Scholar
Maccoby, E. E. (2000). Parenting and its effects on children: On reading and misreading behavior genetics. Annual Review of Psychology 51, 1–27.Google Scholar
Manke, B., McGuire, S., Reiss, D., Hetherington, E. M., & Plomin, R. (1995). Genetic contributions to adolescents' extrafamilial social interactions: Teachers, best friends, and peers. Social Development 4, 238–256.Google Scholar
McGue, M. (2001). The genetics of personality. In D. L. Rimoin, J. M. Connor, R. E. Pyeritz, & B. R. Korf (Eds.), Emery and Rimoin's principles and practice of medical genetics (4th ed., pp. 2791–2800). London: Churchill Livingston.
McGue, M., Bouchard, T. J., Jr., Iacono, W. G., & Lykken, D. T. (1993). Behavior genetics of cognitive ability: A life-span perspective. In R. Plomin & G. E. McClearn (Eds.), Nature, nuture, and psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
McGue, M., Elkins, I., Walden, S., & Iacono, W. (in press). Perceptions of the parent–adolescent relationship: A longitudinal study. Developmental Psychology.
Moffitt, T. E. (1993). Adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent antisocial behavior: A developmental taxonomy. Psychological Review 100, 674–701.Google Scholar
Morris–Yates, A., Andrews, G., Howie, P., & Henderson, S. (1990). Twins: A test of the equal environments assumption. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 81, 322–326.Google Scholar
Neale, M. C. (1997). Mx: Statistical modeling (4th ed.). Richmond, VA: University of Virginia, Department of Psychiatry.
Neiderhiser, J. M., Reiss, D., Hetherington, E. M., & Plomin, R. (1999). Relationships between parenting and adolescent adjustment over time: Genetic and environmental contributions. Developmental Psychology 35, 680–692.Google Scholar
O'Connor, T. G., Deater–Deckard, K., Fulker, D., Rutter, M., & Plomin, R. (1998). Genotype–environment correlations in late childhood and early adolescence: Antisocial behavioral problems and coercive parenting. Developmental Psychology 34, 970–981.Google Scholar
O'Connor, T. G., Hetherington, E. M., Reiss, D., & Plomin, R. (1995). A twin-sibling study of observed parent–adolescent interactions. Child Development 66, 812–829.Google Scholar
Patterson, G. R. (1974). Interventions for boys with conduct problems: Multiple settings, treatments, and criteria. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 42, 471–481.Google Scholar
Patterson, G. R. (1976). The aggressive child: Victim and architect of a coercive system. In E. J. Mash, L. Hamerlynck, & L. Handy (Eds.), Behavior modification and families (pp. 267–316). New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Patterson, G. R, Dishion, T. J., & Chamberlain, P. (1993). Outcomes and methodological issues relating to treatment of antisocial children. In T. R. Giles (Ed.), Effective psychotherapy: A handbook of comparative research (pp. 43–88). New York: Plenum Press.
Pike, A., McGuire, S., Hetherington, E. M., Reiss, D., & Plomin, R. (1996). Family environment and adolescent depressive symptoms and antisocial behavior: A multivariate genetic analysis. Developmental Psychology 32, 590–603.Google Scholar
Plomin, R., DeFries, J. C., & Loehlin, J. C. (1977). Genotype–environment interaction and correlation in the analysis of human behavior. Psychological Bulletin 84, 309–322.Google Scholar
Plomin, R., DeFries, J. C., McClearn, G. E., & McGuffin, P. (2001). Behavioral genetics (4th ed., rev.). New York: Worth Publishers/W. H. Freeman.
Raftery, A. E. (1995). Bayesian model selection in social research. Sociological Methodology 25, 111–163.Google Scholar
Reich, W., & Welner, Z. (1988). Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents—Revised: DSM-III-R version (DICA-R). St. Louis, MO: Washington University.
Reiss, D., Neiderhiser, J. M., Hetherington, E. M., & Plomin, R. (2000). The relationship code: Deciphering genetic and social influences on adolescent development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Rhee, S., & Waldman, I. D. (2002). Genetic and environmental influences on antisocial behavior: A meta-analysis of twin and adoption studies. Psychological Bulletin 128, 490–529.Google Scholar
Rothbaum, F., & Weisz, J. R. (1994). Parental caregiving and child externalizing behavior in nonclinical samples: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin 116, 55–74.Google Scholar
Rowe, D. C. (1981). Environmental and genetic influences on dimensions of perceived parenting: A twin study. Developmental Psychology 17, 203–208.Google Scholar
Rutter, M., Pickles, A., Murray, R., & Eaves, L. (2001). Testing hypotheses on specific environmental causal effects on behavior. Psychological Bulletin 127, 291–324.Google Scholar
Rutter, M., Silberg, J., O'Connor, T., & Simonoff, E. (1999). Genetics and child psychiatry: I Advances in quantitative and molecular genetics. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 40, 3–18.Google Scholar
Scarr, S., & Carter–Saltzman, L. (1979). Twin method: Defense of a critical assumption. Behavior Genetics 9, 527–542.Google Scholar
Scarr, S., & McCartney, K. (1983). How people make their own environments: A theory of genotype–environment effects. Child Development 54, 424–435.Google Scholar
Sherman, D. K., McGue, M. K., & Iacono, W. G. (1997). Twin concordance for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: A comparison of teachers' and mothers' reports. American Journal of Psychiatry 154, 532–535.Google Scholar
Turkheimer, E., & Waldron, M. (2000). Nonshared environment: A theoretical, methodological, and quantitative review. Psychological Bulletin 126, 78–108.Google Scholar
Vuchinich, S., Bank, L., & Patterson, G. R. (1992). Parenting, peers, and the stability of antisocial behavior in preadolescent boys. Developmental Psychology 28, 510–521.Google Scholar
Waschbusch, D. A. (2002). A meta-analytic examination of comorbid hyperactive–impulsive–attention problems and conduct problems. Psychological Bulletin 128, 118–150.Google Scholar
Wasserman, G. A., Miller, L. S., Pinner, E., & Jaramillo, B. (1996). Parenting predictors of early conduct problems in urban, high-risk boys. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 35, 1227–1236.Google Scholar