The nature (and nurture) of children's perceptions of family chaos

Measuring CHAOS? Evaluating the short-form Confusion, Hubbub And Order Scale

The Confusion, Hubbub and Order Scale (CHAOS) - short form - is a survey tool intended to capture information about home environments. It is widely used in studies of child and adolescent development and psychopathology, particularly twin studies. The original long form of the scale comprised 15 items and was validated in a sample of infants in the 1980s. The short form of the scale was developed in the late 1990s and contains six items, including four from the original scale, and two new items. This short form has not been validated and is the focus of this study. We use five samples drawn from twin studies in Australia, the UK, and the USA, and examine measurement invariance of the CHAOS short-form. We first compare alternate confirmatory factor models for each group; we next test between-group configural, metric and scalar invariance; finally, we examine predictive validity of the scale under different conditions. We find evidence that a two-factor configuration of the six items is more appropriate than the commonly used one-factor model. Second, we find measurement non-invariance across groups at the metric invariance step, with items performing differently depending on the sample. We also find inconsistent results in tests of predictive validity using family-level socioeconomic status and academic achievement as criterion variables. The results caution the continued use of the short-form CHAOS in its current form and recommend future revisions and development of the scale for use in developmental research.

Genetics, parenting, and family functioning-What drives the development of self-control from adolescence to adulthood?

OBJECTIVE

Self-control is a meaningful predictor of crucial life outcomes. Knowingly, genes contribute substantially to differences in self-control, but behavioral genetic findings are often misinterpreted regarding environmental influences. Therefore, we reinvestigate the heritability of self-control as well as potential environmental influences, namely parenting and a chaotic home environment.

METHOD

We used cross-sectional and longitudinal data from the German twin family study TwinLife (N = 3354 individuals), structured in a multicohort design in which 13-, 19-, and 25-year-old twins rated their self-control, parents' behavior, and home environment.

RESULTS

Results showed increasing mean levels and 1-year stabilities for self-control accompanied by substantial genetic influences, increasing particularly from ages 19 to 25 (53% to 76%). While chaotic home environments and negative parenting were phenotypically associated with lower self-control, twin difference models revealed that differences in these individually perceived "environments" directly predicted self-control differences (β = -0.16 to -0.28) within families when controlling for genetic and environmental similarities.

CONCLUSIONS

In addition to the genetic anchoring of self-control, results indicate that environmental factors such as negative family environments are meaningful and depend on individual perceptions within families. Interventions for enhancing self-control should, therefore, rely on individual perspectives rather than objective characteristics of home environments.

Mother's and children's ADHD genetic risk, household chaos and children's ADHD symptoms: A gene-environment correlation study

BACKGROUND

Chaotic home environments may contribute to children's attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. However, ADHD genetic risk may also influence household chaos. This study investigated whether children in chaotic households had more ADHD symptoms, if mothers and children with higher ADHD genetic risk lived in more chaotic households, and the joint association of genetic risk and household chaos on the longitudinal course of ADHD symptoms across childhood.

METHODS

Participants were mothers and children from the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, a UK population-representative birth cohort of 2,232 twins. Children's ADHD symptoms were assessed at ages 5, 7, 10 and 12 years. Household chaos was rated by research workers at ages 7, 10 and 12, and by mother's and twin's self-report at age 12. Genome-wide ADHD polygenic risk scores (PRS) were calculated for mothers (n = 880) and twins (n = 1,999); of these, n = 871 mothers and n = 1,925 children had information on children's ADHD and household chaos.

RESULTS

Children in more chaotic households had higher ADHD symptoms. Mothers and children with higher ADHD PRS lived in more chaotic households. Children's ADHD PRS was associated with household chaos over and above mother's PRS, suggesting evocative gene-environment correlation. Children in more chaotic households had higher baseline ADHD symptoms and a slower rate of decline in symptoms. However, sensitivity analyses estimated that gene-environment correlation accounted for a large proportion of the association of household chaos on ADHD symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

Children's ADHD genetic risk was independently associated with higher levels of household chaos, emphasising the active role of children in shaping their home environment. Our findings suggest that household chaos partly reflects children's genetic risk for ADHD, calling into question whether household chaos directly influences children's core ADHD symptoms. Our findings highlight the importance of considering parent and child genetic risk in relation to apparent environmental exposures.

Heritability of Justice Sensitivity

Abstract. Justice is one of the fundamental principles in human evolution, and justice sensitivity from the pro-self (e.g., as a victim) and the prosocial perspective (e.g., as an observer, beneficiary, and perpetrator) matters in mental wellness and social interaction. However, the extent to which individual difference in justice sensitivity is influenced by genetic versus environmental factors remains unclear. Using a sample with 244 twin pairs, the present research attempts to determine the extent to which genetic factors play a role in the inter-individual difference of justice sensitivity as well as whether different facets of justice sensitivity, namely, pro-self and prosocial perspectives, share a common genetic basis. Results showed that (1) all facets of justice sensitivity were moderately heritable (21–33%) and that the non-shared environmental factors plus measurement error accounted for the rest of the variations (67–79%); (2) associations between the prosocial facets of justice sensitivity were driven by common genetic ( rg = .50–.65) and non-shared environmental (plus measurement error; re = .24–.65) influences, whereas no significant genetic link was found between the pro-self and prosocial facets. The current findings provide novel evidence that sensitivity to injustice, especially to others’ suffering, is fundamentally grounded upon genetic origin, thereby shedding light on the nature and nurture aspects of justice behavior.

A multivariable analysis of childhood psychosocial behaviour and household functionality

BACKGROUND

Social determinants of health play a vital role in population health. Awareness of household social factors and their impact on health can help health professionals to provide effective strategies in health promotion, especially for children and adolescents showing signs of psychosocial dysfunction. The objective of this study was to explore the association between parents' perceptions of the psychosocial behaviour of their children and the functionality of their household.

METHODS

This cohort study analysed data from the Coordinated Health Care for Complex Kids programme. The sample included 293 parents of children aged 4-17 years with chronic conditions, and from urban, low-income families. Psychosocial behaviour of the child was measured using the Pediatric Symptom Checklist (PSC-17), which included subscales for internal, external, and attention symptoms. Household functionality was measured using the Confusion, Hubbub, and Order Scale. Responses to both assessments were scored in a standard manner.

RESULTS

There was a significant association between parents' perceptions of the psychosocial behaviour of their children and the functionality of the home environment. The mean Confusion, Hubbub, and Order Scale scores in the home environment improved from baseline to the first reassessment (the period between the two assessments ranged from 4 to 8 months). Additionally, positive PSC-17 screening results of the children decreased by 11% in the first reassessment. The odds of having a positive PSC-17 screening result also decreased in the first reassessment after receiving interventions.

CONCLUSION

The association between psychosocial dysfunction and household functionality indicates the importance of family-centred care and taking the home environment into consideration when administering health services to low-income children with chronic conditions. This study brings attention to the more hidden factors that influence child mental health, which must be addressed to improve care delivery and child health outcomes.

Parent- and child-driven effects during the transition to adolescence: a longitudinal, genetic analysis of the home environment

Theoretical models of child development typically consider the home environment as a product of bidirectional effects, with parent‐ and child‐driven processes operating interdependently. However, the developmental structure of these processes during the transition from childhood to adolescence has not been well studied. In this study we used longitudinal genetic analyses of data from 6646 UK‐representative twin pairs (aged 9–16 years) to investigate stability and change in parenting and household chaos in the context of parent–child bidirectional effects. Stability in the home environment was modest, arising mainly from parent‐driven processes and family‐wide influences. In contrast, change over time was more influenced by child‐driven processes, indicated by significant age‐specific genetic influences. Interpretations of these results and their implications for researchers are discussed.

Narcissism predicts impulsive buying: phenotypic and genetic evidence

Impulsive buying makes billions of dollars for retail businesses every year, particularly in an era of thriving e-commerce. Narcissism, characterized by impulsivity and materialism, may serve as a potential antecedent to impulsive buying. To test this hypothesis, two studies examined the relationship between narcissism and impulsive buying. In Study 1, we surveyed an online sample and found that while adaptive narcissism was not correlated with impulsive buying, maladaptive narcissism was significantly predictive of the impulsive buying tendency. By investigating 304 twin pairs, Study 2 showed that global narcissism and its two components, adaptive and maladaptive narcissism, as well as the impulsive buying tendency were heritable. The study found, moreover, that the connections between global narcissism and impulsive buying, and between maladaptive narcissism and impulsive buying were genetically based. These findings not only establish a link between narcissism and impulsive buying but also help to identify the origins of the link. The present studies deepen our understanding of narcissism, impulsive buying, and their interrelationship.

The mediating role of parenting in the associations between household chaos and children's representations of family dysfunction

Children's drawings are thought to reflect their mental representations of self and their interpersonal relations within families. Household chaos is believed to disrupt key proximal processes related to optimal development. The present study examines the mediating role of parenting behaviors in the relations between two measures of household chaos, instability and disorganization, and how they may be evidenced in children's representations of family dysfunction as derived from their drawings. The sample (N = 962) is from a longitudinal study of rural poverty exploring the ways in which child, family, and contextual factors shape development over time. Findings reveal that, after controlling for numerous factors including child and primary caregiver covariates, there were significant indirect effects from cumulative family disorganization, but not cumulative family instability, on children's representation of family dysfunction through parenting behaviors. Results suggest that the proximal effects of daily disorganization outweigh the effects of periodic instability overtime.

A Chaotic Home Environment Accounts for the Association between Respect for Rules Disposition and Reading Comprehension: A Twin Study

This study examined the association between socioemotional dispositions from the developmental propensity model and reading comprehension and whether those associations could be accounted for by level of chaos in the home. Data from 342 monozygotic and 333 same-sex dizygotic twin pairs age 7-13 years were used. A parent rated the twins on sympathy, respect for rules, negative emotionality, and daring and level of chaos in the twins' home. Reading comprehension was measured using a state-wide school assessment. Only respect for rules significantly and uniquely predicted reading comprehension. Biometric models indicated that respect for rules was positively associated with reading comprehension via the shared environment and home chaos accounted for a significant amount of that shared environmental variance even after controlling for family income. Children with higher respect for rules have better reading comprehension scores in school and this relationship owes partly to the level of chaos in the family home.

Genotype-environment correlation in the era of DNA

One of John Loehlin’s many contributions to the field of behavioral genetics involves gene-environment (GE) correlation. The empirical base for GE correlation was research showing that environmental measures are nearly as heritable as behavioral measures and that genetic factors mediate correlations between environment and behavior. Attempts to identify genes responsible for these phenomena will come up against the ‘missing heritability’ problem that plagues DNA research on complex traits throughout the life sciences. However, DNA can also be used for quantitative genetic analyses of unrelated individuals (Genome-wide Complex Trait Analysis, GCTA) to investigate genetic influence on environmental measures and their behavioral correlates. A novel feature of GCTA is that it enables genetic analysis of family-level environments (e.g., parental socioeconomic status) and school-level environments (e.g., teaching quality) that cannot be investigated using within-family designs such as the twin method. An important implication of GE correlation is its shift from a passive model of the environment imposed on individuals to an active model in which individuals actively create their own experiences in part on the basis of their genetic propensities.

Family chaos and adolescent inflammatory profiles: the moderating role of socioeconomic status

OBJECTIVE

To test whether family chaos influences adolescents' inflammatory profiles and whether adolescents from low socioeconomic status (SES) environments are at higher risk for experiencing adverse inflammatory profiles from living in chaotic family environments.

METHODS

A total of 244 families with an adolescent aged 13 to 16 years participated. Parents completed measures of family SES and family chaos. Both systemic inflammation and stimulated proinflammatory cytokine production in response to bacterial challenge were assessed in adolescents.

RESULTS

Our results suggest that SES moderates the detrimental effect of family chaos on systemic inflammation and interleukin-6 (B = -0.010, standard error [SE] = 0.004, p = .026), but not C-reactive protein (B = 0.009, SE = 0.006, p = .11), and on stimulated proinflammatory cytokine production (B = -0.098, SE = 0.044, p = .026) in adolescents, such that a chaotic family environment is positively associated with greater systemic inflammation and greater stimulated proinflammatory cytokine production in adolescents as family SES declines.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings indicate that living in chaotic family environments places youth who may be vulnerable based on socioeconomic factors at a potentially higher risk for inflammation-related diseases.

DNA evidence for strong genetic stability and increasing heritability of intelligence from age 7 to 12

Two genetic findings from twin research have far-reaching implications for understanding individual differences in the development of brain function as indexed by general cognitive ability (g, aka intelligence): (1) The same genes affect g throughout development, even though (2) heritability increases. It is now possible to test these hypotheses using DNA alone. From 1.7 million DNA markers and g scores at ages 7 and 12 on 2875 children, the DNA genetic correlation from age 7 to 12 was 0.73, highly similar to the genetic correlation of 0.75 estimated from 6702 pairs of twins from the same sample. DNA-estimated heritabilities increased from 0.26 at age 7 to 0.45 at age 12; twin-estimated heritabilities also increased from 0.35 to 0.48. These DNA results confirm the results of twin studies indicating strong genetic stability but increasing heritability for g, despite mean changes in brain structure and function from childhood to adolescence.

Pathological demand avoidance: exploring the behavioural profile

'Pathological Demand Avoidance' is a term increasingly used by practitioners in the United Kingdom. It was coined to describe a profile of obsessive resistance to everyday demands and requests, with a tendency to resort to 'socially manipulative' behaviour, including outrageous or embarrassing acts. Pathological demand avoidance is thought to share aspects of social impairment with autism spectrum disorders, but autism spectrum disorder-appropriate strategies, such as routine and repetition, are described as unhelpful. Outrageous acts and lack of concern for their effects draw parallels with conduct problems and callous-unemotional traits. However, reward-based techniques, effective with conduct problems and callous-unemotional traits, seem not to work in pathological demand avoidance. Despite increasing interest and controversy over the pathological demand avoidance label, there is only one published study to date. We present the first systematic comparison of the behavioural profile of children receiving the term pathological demand avoidance (N = 25) to children with autism spectrum disorders (N = 39) or conduct problems and callous-unemotional traits (N = 28), using parent-report indices of psychopathology. The pathological demand avoidance group displayed comparable levels of autistic traits and peer problems to the autism spectrum disorders group and anti-social traits approaching those seen in the conduct problems and callous-unemotional traits group. Emotional symptoms in pathological demand avoidance exceeded both comparison groups. Findings highlight the extreme behavioural impairment associated with pathological demand avoidance and the need to explore whether behavioural overlap reflects a similar neurocognitive basis to existing groups.

The role of gene-environment correlations and interactions in middle childhood depressive symptoms

Depression is known to be associated with a wide array of environmental factors. Such associations are due at least in part to genetic influences on both. This issue has been little explored with preadolescent children. Measures of family chaos and parenting style at age 9 and child depressive symptoms at age 12 were completed by 3,258 twin pairs from the Twins Early Development Study and their parents. Quantitative genetic modeling was used to explore common and unique genetic and environmental influences on both family environment and later depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms at age 12 were significantly heritable. Moderate genetic effects influenced parenting style and family chaos at the age of 9, indicating gene-environment correlation. There were significant genetic correlations between family environment and depressive symptoms. There was some evidence of a Gene × Environment interaction, with stronger genetic effects on depressive symptoms for children with more suboptimal family environment. There was an Environment × Environment interaction, with effects of nonshared environment on depressive symptoms stronger for twins with more adverse parenting experiences. There is some evidence for gene-environment correlation between aspects of family environment in middle childhood and subsequent depressive symptoms. This suggests that one of the mechanisms by which genes lead to depressive symptoms may be by themselves influencing depressogenic environments.

Twins Early Development Study (TEDS): a genetically sensitive investigation of cognitive and behavioral development from childhood to young adulthood

The Twins Early Development Study (TEDS) is a large longitudinal sample of twins born in England and Wales between 1994 and 1996. The focus of TEDS has been on cognitive and behavioral development, including difficulties in the context of normal development. TEDS began when multiple births were identified from birth records and the families were invited to take part in the study; 16,810 pairs of twins were originally enrolled in TEDS. More than 10,000 of these twin pairs remain enrolled in the study to date. DNA has been collected for more than 7,000 pairs, and genome-wide genotyping data for two million DNA markers are available for 3,500 individuals. The TEDS families have taken part in studies when the twins were aged 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, and 16 years of age. Data collection is currently underway to assess the adult destinations of the twins as they move from school to university and the workplace. Between January 2012 and December 2014, all of the TEDS twins will turn 18, and the study will transition to an adult sample. TEDS represents an outstanding resource for investigating the developmental effects of genes and environments on complex quantitative traits from childhood to young adulthood and beyond.

Understanding the science-learning environment: A genetically sensitive approach

Previous studies have shown that environmental influences on school science performance increase in importance from primary to secondary school. Here we assess for the first time the relationship between the science-learning environment and science performance using a genetically sensitive approach to investigate the aetiology of this link. 3000 pairs of 14-year-old twins from the UK Twins Early Development Study reported on their experiences of the science-learning environment and were assessed for their performance in science using a web-based test of scientific enquiry. Multivariate twin analyses were used to investigate the genetic and environmental links between environment and outcome. The most surprising result was that the science-learning environment was almost as heritable (43%) as performance on the science test (50%), and showed negligible shared environmental influence (3%). Genetic links explained most (56%) of the association between learning environment and science outcome, indicating gene–environment correlation.

Chaotic homes and children's disruptive behavior: a longitudinal cross-lagged twin study

Chaotic home lives are correlated with behavior problems in children. In the study reported here, we tested whether there was a cross-lagged relation between children’s experience of chaos and their disruptive behaviors (conduct problems and hyperactivity-inattention). Using genetically informative models, we then tested for the first time whether the influence of household chaos on disruptive behavior was environmentally mediated and whether genetic influences on children’s disruptive behaviors accounted for the heritability of household chaos. We measured children’s perceptions of household chaos and parents’ ratings of children’s disruptive behavior at ages 9 and 12 in a sample of 6,286 twin pairs from the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS). There was a phenotypic cross-lagged relation between children’s experiences of household chaos and their disruptive behavior. In genetically informative models, we found that the effect of household chaos on subsequent disruptive behavior was environmentally mediated. However, genetic influences on disruptive behavior did not explain why household chaos was heritable.

Chaotic homes and school achievement: a twin study

BACKGROUND

Chaotic homes predict poor school performance. Given that it is known that genes affect both children's experience of household chaos and their school achievement, to what extent is the relationship between high levels of noise and environmental confusion in the home, and children's school performance, mediated by heritable child effects? This is the first study to explore the genetic and environmental pathways between household chaos and academic performance.

METHOD

Children's perceptions of family chaos at ages 9 and 12 and their school performance at age 12 were assessed in more than 2,300 twin pairs. The use of child-specific measures in a multivariate genetic analysis made it possible to investigate the genetic and environmental origins of the covariation between children's experience of chaos in the home and their school achievement.

RESULTS

Children's experience of family chaos and their school achievement were significantly correlated in the expected negative direction (r = -.26). As expected, shared environmental factors explained a large proportion (63%) of the association. However, genetic factors accounted for a significant proportion (37%) of the association between children's experience of household chaos and their school performance.

CONCLUSIONS

The association between chaotic homes and poor performance in school, previously assumed to be entirely environmental in origin, is in fact partly genetic. How children's home environment affects their academic achievement is not simply in the direction environment → child → outcome. Instead, genetic factors that influence children's experience of the disordered home environment also affect how well they do at school. The relationship between the child, their environment and their performance at school is complex: both genetic and environmental factors play a role.

Understanding Heritability: What it is and What it is Not

Commentators generally found our exposition of the concept of heritability helpful for psychologists, suggesting that we largely accomplished our primary goal. Many provided supplemental and helpful perspectives on concepts we addressed. A few of the comments indicated that we may not have been completely successful in making clear our secondary goal, which was to outline how heritability estimates confound a plethora of influences. In this response, we thus emphasize that we do not claim that specific kinds of complexity, or, even worse, intractable complexity, pervade the genetics of behavioural traits. Rather, our claim is that genetics is riddled with complexity of many degrees and kinds, and heritability is a poor indicator of either degree or kind of underlying genetic complexity. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.