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Temperament and Character in the Child and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden (CATSS): Comparison to the General Population, and Genetic Structure Analysis

Garcia, Danilo ; Lundstrom, Sebastian ; Brandstrom, Sven ; Råstam, Maria LU orcid ; Cloninger, C. Robert ; Kerekes, Nora ; Nilsson, Thomas and Anckarsäter, Henrik LU (2013) In PLoS ONE 8(8).
Abstract
Background: The Child and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden (CATSS) is an on-going, large population-based longitudinal twin study. We aimed (1) to investigate the reliability of two different versions (125-items and 238-items) of Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) used in the CATSS and the validity of extracting the short version from the long version, (2) to compare these personality dimensions between twins and adolescents from the general population, and (3) to investigate the genetic structure of Cloninger's model. Method: Reliability and correlation analyses were conducted for both TCI versions, 2,714 CATSS-twins were compared to 631 adolescents from the general population, and the genetic structure was investigated... (More)
Background: The Child and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden (CATSS) is an on-going, large population-based longitudinal twin study. We aimed (1) to investigate the reliability of two different versions (125-items and 238-items) of Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) used in the CATSS and the validity of extracting the short version from the long version, (2) to compare these personality dimensions between twins and adolescents from the general population, and (3) to investigate the genetic structure of Cloninger's model. Method: Reliability and correlation analyses were conducted for both TCI versions, 2,714 CATSS-twins were compared to 631 adolescents from the general population, and the genetic structure was investigated through univariate genetic analyses, using a model-fitting approach with structural equation-modeling techniques based on same-sex twin pairs from the CATSS (423 monozygotic and 408 dizygotic pairs). Results: The TCI scores from the short and long versions showed comparable reliability coefficients and were strongly correlated. Twins scored about half a standard deviation higher in the character scales. Three of the four temperament dimensions (Novelty Seeking, Harm Avoidance, and Persistence) had strong genetic and non-shared environmental effects, while Reward Dependence and the three character dimensions had moderate genetic effects, and both shared and non-shared environmental effects. Conclusions: Twins showed higher scores in character dimensions compared to adolescents from the general population. At least among adolescents there is a shared environmental influence for all of the character dimensions, but only for one of the temperament dimensions (i.e., Reward Dependence). This specific finding regarding the existence of shared environmental factors behind the character dimensions in adolescence, together with earlier findings showing a small shared environmental effects on character among young adults and no shared environmental effects on character among adults, suggest that there is a shift in type of environmental influence from adolescence to adulthood regarding character. (Less)
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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
PLoS ONE
volume
8
issue
8
article number
e70475
publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
external identifiers
  • wos:000324465000075
  • scopus:84881089954
  • pmid:23940581
ISSN
1932-6203
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0070475
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
0bd45564-ca53-4d8c-8414-47baee244c00 (old id 4172631)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 13:45:45
date last changed
2022-01-27 20:54:02
@article{0bd45564-ca53-4d8c-8414-47baee244c00,
  abstract     = {{Background: The Child and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden (CATSS) is an on-going, large population-based longitudinal twin study. We aimed (1) to investigate the reliability of two different versions (125-items and 238-items) of Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) used in the CATSS and the validity of extracting the short version from the long version, (2) to compare these personality dimensions between twins and adolescents from the general population, and (3) to investigate the genetic structure of Cloninger's model. Method: Reliability and correlation analyses were conducted for both TCI versions, 2,714 CATSS-twins were compared to 631 adolescents from the general population, and the genetic structure was investigated through univariate genetic analyses, using a model-fitting approach with structural equation-modeling techniques based on same-sex twin pairs from the CATSS (423 monozygotic and 408 dizygotic pairs). Results: The TCI scores from the short and long versions showed comparable reliability coefficients and were strongly correlated. Twins scored about half a standard deviation higher in the character scales. Three of the four temperament dimensions (Novelty Seeking, Harm Avoidance, and Persistence) had strong genetic and non-shared environmental effects, while Reward Dependence and the three character dimensions had moderate genetic effects, and both shared and non-shared environmental effects. Conclusions: Twins showed higher scores in character dimensions compared to adolescents from the general population. At least among adolescents there is a shared environmental influence for all of the character dimensions, but only for one of the temperament dimensions (i.e., Reward Dependence). This specific finding regarding the existence of shared environmental factors behind the character dimensions in adolescence, together with earlier findings showing a small shared environmental effects on character among young adults and no shared environmental effects on character among adults, suggest that there is a shift in type of environmental influence from adolescence to adulthood regarding character.}},
  author       = {{Garcia, Danilo and Lundstrom, Sebastian and Brandstrom, Sven and Råstam, Maria and Cloninger, C. Robert and Kerekes, Nora and Nilsson, Thomas and Anckarsäter, Henrik}},
  issn         = {{1932-6203}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{8}},
  publisher    = {{Public Library of Science (PLoS)}},
  series       = {{PLoS ONE}},
  title        = {{Temperament and Character in the Child and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden (CATSS): Comparison to the General Population, and Genetic Structure Analysis}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/3575158/4610864.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.1371/journal.pone.0070475}},
  volume       = {{8}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}