title: Genetic and environmental influences on global family conflict.
abstract: This study examined genetic and environmental influences on global family conflict. The sample comprised 872 same-sex pairs of twin parents, their spouses/partners, and one adolescent child per twin from the Twin and Offspring Study in Sweden. The twins, spouses, and child each reported on the degree of family conflict, and there was significant agreement among the family members' ratings. These shared perspectives were explained by one common factor, indexing global family conflict. Genetic influences explained 36% of the variance in this common factor, suggesting that twins' heritable characteristics contribute to family conflict, via genotype-environment correlation. Nonshared environmental effects explained the remaining 64% of this variance, indicating that twins' unique childhood and/or current family experiences also play an important role.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 19802-1294, USA.
authors.forename: Briana N
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: Horwitz
authors.forename: Jenae M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Neiderhiser
authors.forename: Jody M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Ganiban
authors.forename: Erica L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Spotts
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lichtenstein
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Reiss
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012931:Social Environment; D014427:Twins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology*