Intergenerational Transmission of Problem Behavior: Genetic and Environmental Pathways

Despite the growing body of research on the intergenerational transmission of problem behavior, there is a need for more integrative approaches that consider the interplay between genetic and environmental factors. This study uses unique longitudinal data from TRAILS (analytic sample n = 2201), a prospective multiple-generation cohort study in the Netherlands to examine whether parents’ problem behavior (parents’ self-reported lifetime antisocial behavior and substance use, reported at mean age 40 years) predicts offspring problem behavior nearly two decades later (offspring self-reported aggression and delinquency at mean ages 29 and 32 years). In path analyses, independent and relative contributions of genetic (polygenic scores of parents and offspring) and environmental (harsh parenting) pathways were tested. Results confirm intergenerational transmission and consistently point to genetic nurture whereby genetic predisposition predicts parental problem behavior, which in turn predicts harsh parenting, which in turn predicts offspring problem behavior, all while accounting for offspring genetic predisposition, sex and family socioeconomic position. Though these findings are surprising in light of genetic contributions to behavior, they allow for tentative considerations regarding implication for practice to break intergenerational chains of problem behavior.