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RESEARCH PRODUCT
Harmonizing behavioral outcomes across studies, raters, and countries: application to the genetic analysis of aggression in the ACTION Consortium
Justin M. LuninghamJustin M. LuninghamDorret I. BoomsmaDorret I. BoomsmaJaakko KaprioGitta H. LubkeHill F. IpHill F. IpEero VuoksimaaLea PulkkinenRichard J. RosePaul LichtensteinAnne M. HendriksAnne M. HendriksCatharina E. M. Van BeijsterveldtCatharina E. M. Van BeijsterveldtRobert PlominTellervo KorhonenSebastian LundströmMeike BartelsMeike BartelsEva Krapohlsubject
MaleNetherlands Twin Register (NTR)InternationalityTwinsInteractionGenetic analysisArticleintegrative data analysis/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/gender_equality03 medical and health sciences0302 clinical medicineTwins DizygoticDevelopmental and Educational Psychologymedicine/dk/atira/pure/keywords/cohort_studies/netherlands_twin_register_ntr_developmental psychopathologyHumans0501 psychology and cognitive sciencesSiblingChildtwin modelingSDG 5 - Gender EqualityAggressionSiblings05 social sciencesphenotype reference panelTwins MonozygoticSDG 10 - Reduced InequalitiesHeritabilitySocial relationAggressionPsychiatry and Mental healthSocial dynamicsPhenotypePediatrics Perinatology and Child Health/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/reduced_inequalitiesFemalemedicine.symptomPsychology030217 neurology & neurosurgeryDevelopmental psychopathology050104 developmental & child psychologyClinical psychologydescription
BACKGROUND: Aggression in children has genetic and environmental causes. Studies of aggression can pool existing datasets to include more complex models of social effects. Such analyses require large datasets with harmonized outcome measures. Here, we made use of a reference panel for phenotype data to harmonize multiple aggression measures in school-aged children to jointly analyze data from five large twin cohorts.METHODS: Individual level aggression data on 86,559 children (42,468 twin pairs) were available in five European twin cohorts measured by different instruments. A phenotypic reference panel was collected which enabled a model-based phenotype harmonization approach. A bi-factor integration model in the integrative data analysis framework was developed to model aggression across studies while adjusting for rater, age, and sex. Finally, harmonized aggression scores were analyzed to estimate contributions of genes, environment, and social interaction to aggression. The large sample size allowed adequate power to test for sibling interaction effects, with unique dynamics permitted for opposite-sex twins.RESULTS: The best-fitting model found a high level of overall heritability of aggression (~60%). Different heritability rates of aggression across sex were marginally significant, with heritability estimates in boys of ~64% and ~58% in girls. Sibling interaction effects were only significant in the opposite-sex twin pairs: the interaction effect of males on their female co-twin differed from the effect of females on their male co-twin. An aggressive female had a positive effect on male co-twin aggression, whereas more aggression in males had a negative influence on a female co-twin.CONCLUSIONS: Opposite-sex twins displayed unique social dynamics of aggressive behaviors in a joint analysis of a large, multinational dataset. The integrative data analysis framework, applied in combination with a reference panel, has the potential to elucidate broad, generalizable results in the investigation of common psychological traits in children.
year | journal | country | edition | language |
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2020-07-01 |