Genetic variance in conscientiousness relates to youth psychopathology beyond executive functions.

Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science, Vol 131(8), Nov 2022, 830-846; doi:10.1037/abn0000781Because deficits in self-regulation (SR) are core features of many diverse psychological disorders, SR may constitute one of many dimensions that underlie shared variance across diagnostic boundaries (e.g., the p factor, a dimension reflecting shared variance across multiple psychological disorders). SR definitions encompass constructs mapping onto different theoretical traditions and different measurement approaches, however. Two SR operationalizations, executive functioning and conscientiousness, are often used interchangeably despite their low empirical associations—a “jingle” fallacy that pervades much of the research on SR-psychopathology relationships. In a population-based sample of 1,219 twins and multiples from the Texas Twin Project (Mage = 10.60, SDage = 1.76), with a comprehensive battery of measures, we aimed to clarify how these often-muddled aspects of SR relate to individual differences in psychopathology, and whether links between them are accounted for by overlapping genetic and environmental factors. The p factor and an Attention Problems–specific factor were associated with lower executive functioning and conscientiousness. Executive functioning shared a small amount of genetic variance with p above and beyond conscientiousness, whereas conscientiousness shared substantial genetic variance with p independently of genetic variance accounted for by e...
Source: Journal of Abnormal Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research