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Toddler risk and protective characteristics: Common and unique genetic and environmental influences

Gianna Rea-Sandin1, Sierra Clifford1, Carlos Valiente2

  • 1Department of Psychology, Arizona State University.

Social Development (Oxford, England)
|September 24, 2019
PubMed

Insights

This study explored genetic and environmental factors influencing toddler social-emotional development. Findings suggest early interventions can improve social-emotional competence and reduce problem behaviors simultaneously.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Behavioral Genetics
  • Child Psychiatry

Background:

  • Understanding the etiology of social-emotional competence and problem behaviors in toddlers is crucial for early intervention.
  • Differentiating genetic and environmental influences provides insights into developmental pathways.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To disentangle shared and unique genetic and environmental influences on social-emotional competence, problem behavior, physiological dysregulation, and negative emotionality (NE) in toddlers.
  • To identify common etiological factors across these developmental outcomes.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized a multivariate Cholesky Decomposition on data from 243 toddler twin pairs.
  • Caregiver ratings from the Children's Behavior Questionnaire and Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment were analyzed.

Main Results:

  • Identified three shared environmental factors influencing combinations of competence, problem behavior, physiological dysregulation, and NE.
  • Discovered two additive genetic factors impacting competence, problem behavior, and NE.
  • Found significant overlap in genetic and environmental influences across the studied outcomes.

Conclusions:

  • Toddlerhood presents a critical window for interventions targeting multiple social-emotional domains simultaneously.
  • Genetically informed research is essential for understanding the complex etiology of overlapping developmental outcomes.
  • Shared environmental factors underscore the potential for interventions to broadly impact child socio-emotional development.

Keywords:
behavior problemscompetenciesgenetictoddlertwin

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