Substantial genetic influence on mild mental impairment in early childhood
Spinath, F.M. and Harlaar, N. and Ronald, Angelica and Plomin, R. (2004) Substantial genetic influence on mild mental impairment in early childhood. American Journal of Mental Retardation 109 (1), pp. 34-43. ISSN 0895-8017.
Abstract
We report the first major genetic study of mild mental impairment. From a representative sample of 3,886 twins (1,314 monozygotic, 1,296 dizygotic same-sex, and 1,276 dizygotic opposite-sex), the lowest 5% were selected on a composite measure of verbal and nonverbal abilities assessed by parents when the twins were 2, 3, and 4 years of age. Twin concordances for mild mental impairment were 74% for monozygotic twins, 45% for same-sex, and 36% for opposite-sex dizygotic twins, indicating substantial genetic influence. Model-fitting analyses estimated group heritability as .49, which is significantly greater than heritability for the rest of the population in early childhood. These results suggest that mild mental impairment is a good target for neuroscience research on global brain function and dysfunction.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science > School of Psychological Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Sarah Hall |
| Date Deposited: | 10 Feb 2020 16:46 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Aug 2023 17:57 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/30898 |
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