Continuity and change in children's social maladjustment: a developmental behavior genetic study.

Two developmental models were used to study genetic and environmental mechanisms underlying continuity and change in children's maladjustment. The transmission model assumed that successive levels of functioning were causally linked and that earlier experiences or prior genetic influences affected later maladjustment. The liability model related continuity in problem behavior to stable underlying environmental or genetic factors. The analyses pertained on average to 436 pairs of full siblings, 119 pairs of half siblings, and 122 pairs of cousins for whom maternal ratings of problem behaviors were available at ages 4-6, 6-8, and 8-10. Nonshared environmental influences appeared to be most important for changes in children's problem behaviors and did not have significant effects on age-to-age continuity. To represent the genetic and shared environmental mechanisms underlying stability in problem behavior, the authors preffered liability models without time specific effects.