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Genetic Association between Atopy and Behavioral Symptoms in Middle Childhood
Author(s) -
Wamboldt Marianne Z.,
Schmitz Stephanie,
Mrazek David
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of child psychology and psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.652
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1469-7610
pISSN - 0021-9630
DOI - 10.1111/1469-7610.00403
Subject(s) - atopy , psychology , association (psychology) , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , psychiatry , psychotherapist , medicine , immunopathology , immunology
The relationship of atopic and behavioral symptoms in a community sample of 66 monozygotic and 141 dizygotic twin pairs, ages 4–11 years, was investigated via mother report questionnaires. Within‐person correlation between atopic symptoms and Child Behavior Checklist internalizing symptoms (CBCL‐INT) was .21 ( p < .001) for the total sample. Cross‐correlations between atopy and CBCL‐INT were .26 for monozygotic and .04 for dizygotic twins. A common and specific factor model applied to the data revealed that the cross‐correlation between atopy and CBCL‐INT was mainly due to genetic influences (77% of the covariance). This study supports the hypothesis that there is a shared genetic risk for atopy and internalizing symptoms.