Premium
Genetic and Environmental Influences on Depressive Symptomatology in Adolescence: Individual Differences and Extreme Scores
Author(s) -
Rende Richard D.,
Plomin Robert,
Reiss David,
Hetherington E. Mavis
Publication year - 1993
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/j.1469-7610.1993.tb02097.x
Subject(s) - psychology , depression (economics) , twin study , clinical psychology , depressive symptoms , developmental psychology , psychiatry , heritability , cognition , genetics , macroeconomics , economics , biology
— The purpose of the current investigation was to compare the genetic and environmental influences on individual differences in depressive symptomatology (as assessed using the Children's Depression Inventory) to such influences on extreme scores in an unselected sample of adolescents The sample included 707 pairs of siblings (average ages 14.5 and 12 9 years, respectively) participating in a combined twin‐and step‐family study. Moderate genetic influence was found for the full range of individual differences in depression; in contrast, there was non significant genetic influence, and significant shared environmental influence, on extreme scores. The results were interpreted using a risk model in which familial influences specific to the high end of the distribution contribute to depressive symptomatology in adolescence.