Bell R Q, Waldrop M F
Ciba Found Symp. 1982;89:206-20. doi: 10.1002/9780470720714.ch13.
Minor physical anomalies (MPAs) are an index of deviant embryological development due to genetic defects of insults to the fetus. A brief 10-minute examination an an individual makes it possible to establish a count that shown highly stable individual differences from the newborn period up to age seven years, the latest age studied longitudinally. For males, high MPA counts in the newborn period have shown strong predictive relationships to preschool temperament factors such as short attention span, high activity level, and aggressive-impulsive behaviour. For females, high anomaly scores showed relationships to short attention span and to inhibition. Such findings are in contrast with inconsistent results from genetic studies and with infrequent, weak relationships of neonatal variables to later behaviour. These results from the Bethesda longitudinal study have been confirmed in most cases by several cross-sectional studies. Sex differences in behaviour, usually considered to result from differential sex-role training, disappear in preschool samples from which high MPA individuals have been removed, but are much more pronounced than usual in samples with high MPAs.
轻微身体异常（MPAs）是胎儿因遗传缺陷或受到伤害而导致胚胎发育异常的一个指标。对个体进行一次简短的10分钟检查，就能够得出一个计数，该计数显示出从新生儿期到7岁（纵向研究的最晚年龄）存在高度稳定的个体差异。对于男性而言，新生儿期较高的MPA计数与学龄前气质因素，如注意力持续时间短、活动水平高以及攻击冲动行为，呈现出强烈的预测关系。对于女性来说，较高的异常分数与注意力持续时间短和抑制能力有关。这些发现与基因研究中不一致的结果形成对比，也与新生儿变量与后期行为之间不常见且微弱的关系形成对比。贝塞斯达纵向研究的这些结果在大多数情况下已被多项横断面研究所证实。通常被认为是由不同性别角色训练导致的行为性别差异，在去除了高MPA个体的学龄前样本中消失了，但在高MPA样本中比平常更为明显。
