A longitudinal twin study of physical aggression during early childhood: evidence for a developmentally dynamic genome.
BACKGROUND
Physical aggression (PA) tends to have its onset in infancy and to increase rapidly in frequency. Very little is known about the genetic and environmental etiology of PA development during early childhood. We investigated the temporal pattern of genetic and environmental etiology of PA during this crucial developmental period.


METHODS
Participants were 667 twin pairs, including 254 monozygotic and 413 dizygotic pairs, from the ongoing longitudinal Quebec Newborn Twin Study. Maternal reports of PA were obtained from three waves of data at 20, 32 and 50 months. These reports were analysed using a biometric Cholesky decomposition and linear latent growth curve model.


RESULTS
The best-fitting Cholesky model revealed developmentally dynamic effects, mostly genetic attenuation and innovation. The contribution of genetic factors at 20 months substantially decreased over time, while new genetic effects appeared later on. The linear latent growth curve model revealed a significant moderate increase in PA from 20 to 50 months. Two separate sets of uncorrelated genetic factors accounted for the variation in initial level and growth rate. Non-shared and shared environments had no effect on the stability, initial status and growth rate in PA.


CONCLUSIONS
Genetic factors underlie PA frequency and stability during early childhood; they are also responsible for initial status and growth rate in PA. The contribution of shared environment is modest, and perhaps limited, as it appears only at 50 months. Future research should investigate the complex nature of these dynamic genetic factors through genetic-environment correlation (r GE) and interaction (G×E) analyses.
Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Adjustment, Ste-Justine Hospital Research Center,University of Montreal,QC,Canada.
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Lacourse
Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Adjustment, Ste-Justine Hospital Research Center,University of Montreal,QC,Canada.
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Boivin
Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Adjustment, Ste-Justine Hospital Research Center,University of Montreal,QC,Canada.
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Brendgen
National Center for Children and Families, Teachers College,Columbia University,NY,USA.
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Petitclerc
Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Adjustment, Ste-Justine Hospital Research Center,University of Montreal,QC,Canada.
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Girard
Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Adjustment, Ste-Justine Hospital Research Center,University of Montreal,QC,Canada.
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Vitaro
Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Adjustment, Ste-Justine Hospital Research Center,University of Montreal,QC,Canada.
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Paquin
Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Adjustment, Ste-Justine Hospital Research Center,University of Montreal,QC,Canada.
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Ouellet-Morin
Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Adjustment, Ste-Justine Hospital Research Center,University of Montreal,QC,Canada.
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Dionne
Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Adjustment, Ste-Justine Hospital Research Center,University of Montreal,QC,Canada.
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Tremblay
D000374:Aggression / Q000502:physiology*; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004200:Diseases in Twins / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D059647:Gene-Environment Interaction; D016678:Genome; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D011792:Quebec