Behavioral disinhibition: Liability for externalizing spectrum disorders and its genetic and environmental relation to response inhibition across adolescence.
- 1 February 2009
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Psychological Association (APA) in Journal of Abnormal Psychology
- Vol. 118 (1), 117-130
- https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014657
Abstract
Behavioral disinhibition has been characterized as a generalized vulnerability to externalizing disorders. Despite increasing evidence for its validity and heritability, the structural stability of behavioral disinhibition across adolescence and the strength and etiology of its relation to executive functions have not been studied. In this multivariate twin study, the authors assessed behavioral disinhibition using measures tapping substance use, conduct disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and novelty seeking at ages 12 and 17. Executive functions were assessed with laboratory-based cognitive tasks at age 17. Results indicated that, at age 12, behavioral disinhibition was dominated by ADHD and conduct problems and was highly heritable. At age 17, the contributions of the 4 components were more balanced, and the proportion of variance attributable to genetic factors was somewhat smaller, with additional variance due to shared environmental influences. At both ages, behavioral disinhibition was more closely related to response inhibition than other executive functions (working memory updating and task-set shifting), and this relationship was primarily genetic in origin. These results highlight the dynamic nature of behavioral disinhibition across adolescence and suggest that response inhibition may be an important mechanism underlying vulnerability to disinhibitory psychopathology.Keywords
Funding Information
- National Institutes of Health (MH63207; HD010333; DA011015, MH01865, MH075814)
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (AA07464)
This publication has 77 references indexed in Scilit:
- The Relations Among Inhibition and Interference Control Functions: A Latent-Variable Analysis.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2004
- Assessing personality features and their relations with behavioral problems in adolescents: tridimensional personality questionnaire and junior eysenck personality questionnaireComprehensive Psychiatry, 2004
- Genetic and Environmental Influences on Substance Initiation, Use, and Problem Use in AdolescentsArchives of General Psychiatry, 2003
- Reduced response-inhibition in obsessive–compulsive disorder measured with topographic evoked potential mappingPsychiatry Research, 2003
- Review of Twin and Adoption Studies of Adolescent Substance UseJournal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2003
- Executive control deficit in depression: event-related potentials in a Go/Nogo taskPsychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 2003
- Modern Robust Data Analysis Methods: Measures of Central Tendency.Psychological Methods, 2003
- Switching attention and resolving interference: fMRI measures of executive functionsNeuropsychologia, 2002
- Community studies on adolescent substance use, abuse, or dependence and psychiatric comorbidity.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2002
- Waxing and waning in concert: Dynamic comorbidity of conduct disorder with other disruptive and emotional problems over 17 years among clinic-referred boys.Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 2002