title: Parental criticism is an environmental influence on adolescent somatic symptoms.
abstract: Previous studies have suggested that parental criticism leads to more somatic symptoms in adolescent children. However, this research has not assessed the direction of causation or whether genetic and/or environmental influences explain the association between parental criticism and adolescent somatic symptoms. As such, it is impossible to understand the mechanisms that underlie this association. The current study uses the Extended Children of Twins design to examine whether parents' genes, adolescents' genes, and/or environmental factors explain the relationship between parental criticism and adolescent somatic symptoms. Participants came from 2 twin samples, including the Twin and Offspring Study in Sweden (N = 868 pairs of adult twins and each twin's adolescent child) and from the Twin Study of Child and Adolescent Development (N = 690 pairs of twin children and their parents). Findings showed that environmental influences account for the association between parental criticism and adolescent somatic symptoms. This suggests that parents' critical behaviors exert a direct environmental effect on somatic symptoms in adolescent children. Results support the use of intervention programs focused on parental criticism to help reduce adolescents' somatic symptoms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, California State University-Fullerton.
authors.forename: Briana N
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: Horwitz
authors.affiliation: Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, Brown University.
authors.forename: Kristine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Marceau
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinksa Institute.
authors.forename: Jurgita
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Narusyte
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, George Washington University.
authors.forename: Jody
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ganiban
authors.affiliation: Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, National Institute on Aging/National Institutes of Health.
authors.forename: Erica L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Spotts
authors.affiliation: Child Study Center, Yale University.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Reiss
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinksa Institute.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lichtenstein
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University.
authors.forename: Jenae M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Neiderhiser
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D059647:Gene-Environment Interaction; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012919:Social Behavior; D012931:Social Environment; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D014427:Twins / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult
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