title: The Intergenerational Transmission of Anxiety: A Children-of-Twins Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The transmission of anxiety within families is well recognized, but the underlying processes are poorly understood. Twin studies of adolescent anxiety demonstrate both genetic and environmental influence, and multiple aspects of parenting are associated with offspring anxiety. To date, the children-of-twins design has not been used to evaluate the relative contributions of genetic transmission compared with direct transmission of anxiety from parents to their offspring.
  
  
  METHODS
  Anxiety and neuroticism measures were completed by 385 monozygotic and 486 dizygotic same-sex twin families (37% male twin pair families) from the Twin and Offspring Study in Sweden. Structural equation models tested for the presence of both genetic and environmental transmission from one generation to the next.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For both anxiety and neuroticism, the models provide support for significant direct environmental transmission from parents to their adolescent offspring. In contrast, there was no evidence of significant genetic transmission.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The association between parental and offspring anxiety largely arises because of a direct association between parents and their children independent of genetic confounds. The lack of genetic transmission may reflect there being different genetic effects on these traits in adolescence and adulthood. Direct environmental transmission is in line with developmental theories of anxiety suggesting that children and adolescents learn anxious behaviors from their parents through a number of pathways such as modeling. Future analyses should combine children-of-twins data with child twin data in order to examine whether this direct effect solely represents parental influences on the offspring or whether it also includes child/adolescent anxiety evoking parental anxiety.
authors.affiliation: From King's College London, MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre, the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, London; the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, Conn.; the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, NIH, Bethesda, Md.; the Department of Psychology, George Washington University, Washington, DC; and the Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa.
authors.forename: Thalia C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Eley
authors.affiliation: From King's College London, MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre, the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, London; the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, Conn.; the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, NIH, Bethesda, Md.; the Department of Psychology, George Washington University, Washington, DC; and the Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa.
authors.forename: Tom A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: McAdams
authors.affiliation: From King's College London, MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre, the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, London; the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, Conn.; the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, NIH, Bethesda, Md.; the Department of Psychology, George Washington University, Washington, DC; and the Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa.
authors.forename: Fruhling V
authors.initials: FV
authors.lastname: Rijsdijk
authors.affiliation: From King's College London, MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre, the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, London; the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, Conn.; the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, NIH, Bethesda, Md.; the Department of Psychology, George Washington University, Washington, DC; and the Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lichtenstein
authors.affiliation: From King's College London, MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre, the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, London; the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, Conn.; the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, NIH, Bethesda, Md.; the Department of Psychology, George Washington University, Washington, DC; and the Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa.
authors.forename: Jurgita
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Narusyte
authors.affiliation: From King's College London, MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre, the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, London; the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, Conn.; the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, NIH, Bethesda, Md.; the Department of Psychology, George Washington University, Washington, DC; and the Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Reiss
authors.affiliation: From King's College London, MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre, the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, London; the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, Conn.; the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, NIH, Bethesda, Md.; the Department of Psychology, George Washington University, Washington, DC; and the Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa.
authors.forename: Erica L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Spotts
authors.affiliation: From King's College London, MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre, the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, London; the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, Conn.; the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, NIH, Bethesda, Md.; the Department of Psychology, George Washington University, Washington, DC; and the Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa.
authors.forename: Jody M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Ganiban
authors.affiliation: From King's College London, MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre, the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, London; the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, Conn.; the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, NIH, Bethesda, Md.; the Department of Psychology, George Washington University, Washington, DC; and the Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa.
authors.forename: Jenae M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Neiderhiser
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D004200:Diseases in Twins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D059647:Gene-Environment Interaction; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008960:Models, Psychological; D000075384:Neuroticism; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010641:Phenotype; D012307:Risk Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013548:Sweden