Heritability of overlapping impulsivity and compulsivity dimensional phenotypes

Tiego, Jeggan, Chamberlain, Samuel R., Harrison, Ben J., Dawson, Andrew, Albertella, Lucy, Youssef, George J., Fontenelle, Leonardo F. and Yücel, Murat (2020) Heritability of overlapping impulsivity and compulsivity dimensional phenotypes. Scientific Reports, 10 (1), [14378]. (doi:10.1038/s41598-020-71013-x).

Abstract

Impulsivity and compulsivity are traits relevant to a range of mental health problems and have traditionally been conceptualised as distinct constructs. Here, we reconceptualised impulsivity and compulsivity as partially overlapping phenotypes using a bifactor modelling approach and estimated heritability for their shared and unique phenotypic variance within a classical twin design. Adult twin pairs (N = 173) completed self-report questionnaires measuring psychological processes related to impulsivity and compulsivity. We fitted variance components models to three uncorrelated phenotypic dimensions: a general impulsive–compulsive dimension; and two narrower phenotypes related to impulsivity and obsessiveness.There was evidence of moderate heritability for impulsivity (A² = 0.33), modest additive genetic or common environmental effects for obsessiveness (A² = 0.25; C² = 0.23), and moderate effects of common environment (C² = 0.36) for the general dimension, This general impulsive–compulsive phenotype may reflect a quantitative liability to related mental health disorders that indexes exposure to potentially modifiable environmental risk factors.

This record has no associated files available for download.

Contributors

Author: Samuel R. Chamberlain

Download statistics