The Academic Centre for the Study of Behavioural Plasticity, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy.
J Anxiety Disord. 2010 May;24(4):433-9. doi: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2010.02.008. Epub 2010 Feb 20.
This study investigated the ultimate causes of co-variation between symptoms of four common DSM-IV anxiety dimensions - Generalized Anxiety, Panic, Social Phobia and Separation Anxiety disorder - assessed with the Italian version of the Screen for Child Anxiety-Related Emotional Disorders questionnaire in a sample of 378 twin pairs aged 8-17 from the population-based Italian Twin Register. Genetic and environmental proportions of covariance between the targeted anxiety dimensions were estimated by multivariate twin analyses. Genetic influences (explaining from 58% to 99% of covariance) and unique environmental factors were the sole sources of co-variation for all phenotypes under study. Genetic influences associated with different anxiety dimensions coincide remarkably, as indicated by genetic correlations ranging from 0.40 to 0.61, while unique environmental overlap is less substantial. Thus, while additive genetic effects are important in explaining why children report symptoms from multiple anxiety disorders, environmental idiosyncratic factors seem to play a marginal role in shaping the co-occurrence of different anxiety dimensions in childhood.
本研究旨在通过对意大利基于人群的双胞胎登记处的 378 对 8-17 岁的双胞胎进行的 Screen for Child Anxiety-Related Emotional Disorders 问卷的意大利语版本评估，调查四种常见 DSM-IV 焦虑维度（广泛性焦虑、恐慌症、社交恐惧症和分离焦虑障碍）症状共变的根本原因。通过多变量双胞胎分析来估计目标焦虑维度之间协方差的遗传和环境比例。遗传影响（解释了从 58%到 99%的协方差）和独特的环境因素是所有研究表型共变的唯一来源。不同焦虑维度之间的遗传相关性非常显著，从 0.40 到 0.61，而独特的环境重叠则不那么显著。因此，虽然加性遗传效应在解释为什么儿童会报告多种焦虑障碍的症状方面很重要，但环境的独特因素在塑造儿童时期不同焦虑维度的共现方面似乎只起到次要作用。
