The genetic and environmental etiology of child maltreatment in a parent-based extended family design

Katharina Pittner*, Marinus H. Van Ijzendoorn, Lenneke R.A. Alink, Renate S.M. Buisman, Laura H.C.G.C. Compier-De Block, Lisa J.M. Van Den Berg, Bernet M. Elzinga, Jolanda Lindenberg, Marieke S. Tollenaar, Vincent P. Diego, Marian J. Bakermans-Kranenburg

*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Child maltreatment has been associated with various cumulative risk factors. However, little is known about the extent to which genetic and environmental factors contribute to individual differences between parents in perpetrating child maltreatment. To estimate the relative contribution of genetic and environmental factors to perpetrating maltreatment we used a parent-based extended family design. Child-reported perpetrated maltreatment was available for 556 parents (283 women) from 63 families. To explore reporter effects (i.e., child perspective on maltreatment), child reports were compared to multi-informant reports. Based on polygenic model analyses, most of the variance related to the perpetration of physical abuse and emotional neglect was explained by common environmental factors (physical abuse: c 2 = 59%, SE = 12%, p =.006; emotional neglect: c 2 = 47%, SE = 8%, p <.001) whereas genetic factors did not significantly contribute to the model. For perpetrated emotional abuse, in contrast, genetic factors did significantly contribute to perpetrated emotional abuse (h 2 = 33%, SE = 8%, p <.001), whereas common environment factors did not. Multi-informant reports led to similar estimates of genetic and common environmental effects on all measures except for emotional abuse, where a multi-informant approach yielded higher estimates of the common environmental effects. Overall, estimates of unique environment, including measurement error, were lower using multi-informant reports. In conclusion, our findings suggest that genetic pathways play a significant role in perpetrating emotional abuse, while physical abuse and emotional neglect are transmitted primarily through common environmental factors. These findings imply that interventions may need to target different mechanisms dependings on maltreatment type.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)157-172
Number of pages16
JournalDevelopment and Psychopathology
Volume31
Issue number1
Early online date13 Feb 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2019

Bibliographical note

Special Issue 1: The effect of maltreatment experiences on maltreating and dysfunctional parenting: A search for mechanisms

Funding

The study was supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (MJBK: VICI Grant 453-09-003; LRAA: VIDI Grant 016.145.360; and MHvIJ: NWO SPINOZA prize) and grants of Leiden University to initiate and support the Research Profile Area Health, Prevention and the Human Life Cycle awarded to M.H. van IJzendoorn, P. Assendelft, and B. van Hemert. The study was supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (MJBK: VICI Grant 453-09-003; LRAA: VIDI Grant 016.145.360; and MHvIJ: NWO SPINOZA prize) and grants of Leiden University to initiate and support the Research Profile Area Health, Prevention and the Human Life Cycle awarded to M.H. van IJzendoorn, P. Assendelft, and B. van Hemert. We are grateful to all the families who have invested their time by participating in this study and to the students whose contribution to the data collection was invaluable. We thank Mari\u00EBlle Linting for her feedback on the manuscript and Rudi Westendorp for his contribution to the conception of the study.

FundersFunder number
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
Universiteit Leiden
MJBK453-09-003, 016.145.360

    Keywords

    • child maltreatment
    • common environmental factors
    • extended family design
    • genetic factors
    • passive gene-environment correlation

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