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Genetic Vulnerability to Experiencing Child Maltreatment

Pezzoli, Patrizia; Antfolk, Jan; Hatoum, Alexander S; Santtila, Pekka; (2019) Genetic Vulnerability to Experiencing Child Maltreatment. Frontiers in Genetics , 10 , Article 852. 10.3389/fgene.2019.00852. Green open access

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Abstract

Although biological factors may influence the risk of experiencing negative life events, the role of genes in the vulnerability to child victimization remains poorly understood. In a large population-based Finnish sample (N = 13,024), we retrospectively measured multiple experiences of child victimization and, in a subsample of twins (n = 9,562), we estimated the extent to which genetic and environmental factors influenced these experiences. In particular, we investigated whether genetic and environmental influences varied depending on the type of child victimization, the genetic relatedness with the perpetrator, and the sex of the victim. Our quantitative genetic analyses supported the presence of both genetic and environmental influences on the occurrence and co-occurrence of child abuse and neglect. We also identified one common etiological pathway underlying multiple child victimizations, and after accounting for this common etiology, we singled out risk factors specific to sexual abuse. Environmental factors shared and nonshared between twins raised together influenced the risk of victimization by genetically related and unrelated perpetrators, respectively. Furthermore, we estimated sex differences in the etiology of emotional and sexual victimization, including larger unshared environmental influences for men and sex-limited genetic effects for women. These findings can inform child protection as they contribute to explaining why certain individuals are at increased risk of experiencing one or more types of child maltreatment.

Type: Article
Title: Genetic Vulnerability to Experiencing Child Maltreatment
Location: Switzerland
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2019.00852
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2019.00852
Language: English
Additional information: © 2019 Pezzoli, Antfolk, Hatoum and Santtila. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Keywords: Child victimization, gene-environment correlation, sex differences, child sexual abuse, child maltreatment, adverse childhood experiences, heritability, genetics
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10199358
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