Intergenerational transmission of effortful control and reactive control: Evidence from a twin study

This study examined the intergenerational transmission of effortful control and reactive control between parents and their children in middle childhood. We further partitioned environmental and genetic contributions to individual differences in effortful control and reactive control. Participants included 935 twins (51.9% female, 53.2% White, Myear 8 = 8.43 years, SD = 0.68, and Myear 10 = 10.61 years, SD = 1.14) from the Arizona Twin Project. When children were age 8, mothers and fathers reported their own activation control, attentional focusing, inhibitory control, and effortful control; at ages 8 and 10, the primary caregivers (93.3% mothers) and teachers rated twins' activation control, attentional focusing, inhibitory control, and impulsivity. Regression models showed that higher maternal effortful control was consistently associated with better twin activation control, attentional focusing, and inhibitory control, and lower impulsivity across waves and informants, whereas paternal attentional focusing was linked to twins' attentional focusing at age 10. Bivariate twin models revealed distinct etiological patterns: activation control showed stable and novel genetic influences; attentional focusing was largely heritable; inhibitory control exhibited shared environmental effects; and impulsivity showed strong genetic stability and unique shared environmental influences. Findings identify tailored genetic and environmental targets for intervention.