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Origins of individual differences in anxiety proneness: a twin/adoption study of the anxiety‐related scales from the Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP)
Author(s) -
Gustavsson J. P.,
Pedersen N. L.,
Åsberg M.,
Schalling D.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1996.tb10678.x
Subject(s) - anxiety , personality , psychology , clinical psychology , personality assessment inventory , psychometrics , developmental psychology , psychiatry , social psychology
The genetic and environmental origins of individual differences in scores on the anxiety‐proneness scales from the Karolinska Scales of Personality were explored using a twin/adoption study design in a sample consisting of 15 monozygotic twin pairs reared apart, and 26 monozygotic and 29 dizygotic twin pairs reared together. The results showed that genetic factors accounted for individual differences in scores on the psychasthenia and somatic anxiety scales. The genetic determinants were not specific to each scale, but were common to both scales. Shared‐rearing environmental determinants were important for individual differences in lack of assertiveness and psychic anxiety, and were common to both scales. Individual differences in muscular tension were found to be attributable to the effects of correlated environments. The most important factor explaining individual differences for all scales was the non‐shared environment component. The evidence for an aetiologically heterogeneous anxiety‐proneness construct emphasizes the appropriateness of a multi dimensional approach to anxiety proneness.