The development of prosocial behaviour in children and adolescents: a twin study

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines
Jane ScourfieldP McGuffin

Abstract

Childhood psychopathology is associated with both high and low levels of prosocial behaviour. It has been proposed that the development of prosocial behaviour shows emerging and consolidating individual differences as children grow older. The influences on these individual differences have not previously been examined in children and adolescents using multiple raters in a genetically informative design. Twin data from 682 families based on parent and teacher reports were used to examine the genetic and environmental influences on prosocial behaviour in 5-16-year-olds. Effects of sex, age and rater were examined. There were no significant differences in the magnitude of genetic and environmental influence on male and female prosocial behaviour. Declining common environment and increasing genetic influences were seen with age. This emerged as a trend in parent data and reached statistical significance in teacher data. When parent and teacher data were examined together in a rater bias model significant bias acting on the parent ratings emerged, in keeping with previous discrepancies between parental and observational measures. There was overlap in the phenotype rated by parents and teachers, with a highly heritable common underly...Continue Reading

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Citations

Apr 21, 2009·Behavior Genetics·Lisa R Edelson, Kimberly J Saudino
Dec 4, 2008·Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology·J S NijmeijerC A Hartman
Feb 19, 2005·Current Psychiatry Reports·Svenn Torgersen
Feb 12, 2013·Twin Research and Human Genetics : the Official Journal of the International Society for Twin Studies·Reut Avinun, Ariel Knafo
Oct 2, 2007·Twin Research and Human Genetics : the Official Journal of the International Society for Twin Studies·Yoon-Mi Hur
Feb 2, 2006·Journal of Personality and Social Psychology·Ariel Knafo, Robert Plomin
Jun 2, 2007·Twin Research and Human Genetics : the Official Journal of the International Society for Twin Studies·Marianne B M van den BreeAnita Thapar
Oct 3, 2009·Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry·James ColePeter Mcguffin
Jul 8, 2009·Developmental Psychobiology·Lisabeth Fisher DiLallaAndrew Smolen
Jan 6, 2009·Developmental Science·Alice M GregoryThalia C Eley
Jul 20, 2013·The British Journal of Clinical Psychology·Peter J Taylor, Alex M Wood
Sep 27, 2012·Journal of Theoretical Biology·Richard M Sibly, Robert N Curnow
Jan 22, 2019·Twin Research and Human Genetics : the Official Journal of the International Society for Twin Studies·Yoon-Mi HurAriel Knafo-Noam
Mar 30, 2017·Twin Research and Human Genetics : the Official Journal of the International Society for Twin Studies·Yoon-Mi HurBrett C Haberstick
Apr 8, 2017·Royal Society Open Science·Richard M Sibly, Robert N Curnow
Sep 24, 2019·Social Development·Gianna Rea-SandinKathryn Lemery-Chalfant
May 12, 2021·Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development·Dale F HayRhiannon Slade

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