scholarly journals Sex Differences in Genetic and Environmental Influences on Adolescent Depressive Symptoms: A Meta-Analytic Review

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Chen ◽  
Jing Yu
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Sex Difference ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
Twin Studies ◽  
Adolescent Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Analytic Review ◽  
Self Reports

Although sex difference in the mean level of depressive symptoms has been well established, the sex difference in genetic and environmental influences on adolescent depressive symptoms is unclear. The current study conducted a meta-analysis of twin studies on sex differences in self- and parent-reported adolescent depressive symptoms. For self-reports, genetic factors influenced adolescent depressive symptoms equally for boys and girls, accounting for 46% of variation, but shared environmental factors had stronger impacts on adolescent girls’ versus boys’ depressive symptoms (13% versus 1% of the variance). For parent-reports, genetic, shared, and nonshared environmental factors influenced adolescent depressive symptoms equally, with separate estimates of 34%, 35%, and 31%. The implications of sex difference in genetic and environmental etiologies of depressive symptoms are discussed.

scholarly journals Sex Differences in Trust and Trustworthiness - A Meta-Analysis of the Trust Game and the Gift-Exchange Game

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olmo Van den Akker ◽  
Marcel A. L. M. van Assen ◽  
mark van vugt ◽  
Jelte M. Wicherts
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Sex Difference ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Gift Exchange ◽  
Effect Sizes ◽  
Trust Game ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Analytic Review ◽  
The Gift ◽  
Meta Analyses

Do men and women differ in trusting behavior? This question is directly relevant to social, economic, and political domains, yet the answer remains elusive. In this paper, we present a meta-analytic review of the literature on sex differences in the trust game and a variant, the gift-exchange game. Informed by both evolutionary and cultural perspectives, we predicted men to be more trusting and women to be more trustworthy in these games. The trust game meta-analyses encompass 77 papers yielding 174 effect sizes based on 17,082 participants from 23 countries, while the gift-exchange game meta-analyses covered 15 papers reporting 35 effect sizes based on 1,362 participants from 19 countries. In the trust game, we found men to be more trusting than women, g = 0.22, but we found no significant sex difference in trustworthiness, g = 0.09. In the gift-exchange game we found no significant sex difference in trust, g = 0.15, yet we did find that men are more trustworthy than women, g = 0.33. The results of the meta-analyses show that the behavior in both games is inconsistent. It seems that when monetary transfers are multiplied men behave more cooperatively than women, but that there are no sex differences when such a multiplier is absent. This “male multiplier effect” is consistent with an evolutionary account emphasizing men’s historical role as resource provider. However, future research needs to substantiate this effect and provide a theoretical framework to explain it.

scholarly journals Overgeneral and Specific Autobiographical Memory Predict the Course of Depression: An Updated Meta-Analysis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David John Hallford ◽  
Danielle Rusanov ◽  
Joseph Yeow ◽  
Tom Joseph Barry
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Cognitive Process ◽  
Depressive Disorders ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Clinical Samples ◽  
Eligibility Criteria ◽  
Moderating Variables ◽  
Analytic Review ◽  
Course Of Depression

Impairments in retrieving event-level, specific autobiographical memories, termed overgeneral memory (OGM) are recognised as a feature of clinical depression. A previous meta-analytic review (Sumner, Griffith, & Mineka, 2010) assessing how OGM predicts the course of subsequent depressive symptoms showed small, but robust effects for correlations and regression analyses when baseline depressive symptoms were controlled for. We aimed to update this study and examine whether their findings replicate given the decade of research that has been published since. A systematic literature review using the same eligibility criteria as the previous meta-analysis lead to a doubling of eligible studies (31 vs. 15). The results provided more precise estimates of effect sizes, and largely support the finding that OGM predicts the course of depressive symptoms. The effects were generally small, but significantly larger among clinical samples, compared to studies with non-clinical samples. Higher age was associated with stronger effects, while longer follow-up with associated with weaker effects. The findings on other moderating variables that were analysed were mixed. Continued research into this modifiable cognitive process may help to provide an avenue to better understand and treat highly prevalent and impactful depressive disorders.

Developmental changes in genetic and environmental influences on Chinese child and adolescent anxiety and depression

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (9) ◽  
pp. 1829-1838 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Zheng ◽  
F. Rijsdijk ◽  
J.-B. Pingault ◽  
R. J. McMahon ◽  
J. B. Unger
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Transition Period ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
Child And Adolescent ◽  
Developmental Changes ◽  
Anxiety And Depression ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Late Childhood ◽  
Adolescent Anxiety

BackgroundTwin and family studies using Western samples have established that child and adolescent anxiety and depression are under substantial genetic, modest shared environmental, and substantial non-shared environmental influences. Generalizability of these findings to non-Western societies remains largely unknown, particularly regarding the changes of genetic and environmental influences with age. The current study examined changes in genetic and environmental influences on self-reported anxiety and depression from late childhood to mid-adolescence among a Chinese twin sample. Sex differences were also examined.MethodSelf-reported anxiety and depression were collected from 712 10- to 12-year-old Chinese twins (mean = 10.88 years, 49% males) and again 3 years later. Quantitative genetic modeling was used to examine developmental changes in genetic and environmental influences on anxiety and depression, and sex differences.ResultsHeritability of anxiety and depression in late childhood (23 and 20%) decreased to negligible in mid-adolescence, while shared environmental influences increased (20 and 27% to 57 and 60%). Shared environmental factors explained most of the continuity of anxiety and depression (75 and 77%). Non-shared environmental factors were largely time-specific. No sex differences were observed.ConclusionsShared environmental influences might be more pronounced during the transition period of adolescence in non-Western societies such as China. Future research should examine similarities and differences in the genetic and environmental etiologies of child and adolescent internalizing and other psychopathology in development between Western and non-Western societies.

Trauma Exposure and Stress Response: Exploration of Mechanisms of Cause and Effect

2007 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 564-572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerry L. Jang ◽  
Steven Taylor ◽  
Murray B. Stein ◽  
Shinji Yamagata
Keyword(s):  
Stress Response ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Genetic Factors ◽  
Traumatic Events ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
Twin Studies ◽  
Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms ◽  
Dizygotic Twin ◽  
Stress Symptoms ◽  
Assaultive Trauma

AbstractPeople differ markedly in their risk for developing posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) after exposure to traumatic events. Twin studies suggest that the trauma-PTSS relationship is moderated by genetic and environmental influences. The present study tested for specific types of genetic and environmental interaction effects on PTSS. A sample of 222 monozygotic and 184 dizygotic twin pairs reported on lifetime frequency of assaultive and nonassaultive trauma and associated PTSS. Biometric analyses indicated that in the case of nonassaultive trauma, PTSS were directly affected by environmental factors that also influence exposure to nonassaultive trauma. For assaultive trauma both genetic and non-shared environmental influences jointly affected PTSS, and the number of traumatic events moderated the severity of PTSS. Genetic factors were found to become less important beyond some threshold (e.g., 3 or 4 types of serious trauma) suggesting that genetic factors — which may confer either risk or resilience to PTSS — modify these symptoms within a range of human experience, beyond which environmental effects supervene.

Sex Differences Concerning Prosocial Behavior in Social Dilemmas Are (Partially) Mediated by Risk Preferences But Not Social Preferences

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Angela R. Dorrough ◽  
Andreas Glöckner
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Prosocial Behavior ◽  
Sex Difference ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Social Preferences ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Social Dilemmas ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Null Effect ◽  
The Difference

Abstract. Previous results on the prosociality of men and women in social dilemmas are mixed. Studies find more prosocial behavior for men and women; and a meta-analysis ( Balliet et al., 2011 ) reports an overall null effect. Including samples ( N = 1,903) from 10 countries that vary concerning gender inequality (e.g., China, Colombia, Sweden), we investigated sex differences in social dilemmas and drivers of these potential differences. We found that men behaved more prosocially, in that they transferred more of their endowment to their interaction partner. This sex difference was descriptively observed for all countries and was partially mediated by differences in risk but not social preferences. Gender inequality did not predict the difference in magnitude of sex differences between countries.

Sex Differences in Aggression in Real-World Settings: A Meta-Analytic Review

2004 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 291-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Archer
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Real World ◽  
Role Theory ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Indirect Aggression ◽  
Childhood And Adolescence ◽  
Analytic Review ◽  
Self Reports ◽  
Sexual Selection Theory ◽  
Teacher Reports

Meta-analytic reviews of sex differences in aggression from real-world settings are described. They cover self-reports, observations, peer reports, and teacher reports of overall direct, physical, verbal, and indirect forms of aggression, as well as (for self-reports) trait anger. Findings are related to sexual selection theory and social role theory. Direct, especially physical, aggression was more common in males and females at all ages sampled, was consistent across cultures, and occurred from early childhood on, showing a peak between 20 and 30 years. Anger showed no sex differences. Higher female indirect aggression was limited to later childhood and adolescence and varied with method of measurement. The overall pattern indicated males’ greater use of costly methods of aggression rather than a threshold difference in anger.

Genetic and environmental influences on sociopolitical attitudes

2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 236-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Bell ◽  
Christian Kandler ◽  
Rainer Riemann
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
The Self ◽  
Self Report ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
German Sample ◽  
Self Reports ◽  
Sociopolitical Attitudes ◽  
Genetic And Environmental Factors ◽  
Peer Reports

A new paradigm has emerged in which both genetic and environmental factors are cited as possible influences on sociopolitical attitudes. Despite the increasing acceptance of this paradigm, several aspects of the approach remain underdeveloped. Specifically, limitations arise from a reliance on a twins-only design, and all previous studies have used self-reports only. There are also questions about the extent to which existing findings generalize cross-culturally. To address those issues, this study examined individual differences in liberalism/conservatism in a German sample that included twins, their parents, and their spouses and incorporated both self- and peer reports. The self-report findings from this extended twin family design were largely consistent with previous research that used that rater perspective, but they provided higher estimates of heritability, shared parental environmental influences, assortative mating, and genotype-environment correlation than the results from peer reports. The implications of these findings for the measurement and understanding of sociopolitical attitudes are explored.

scholarly journals Genetic and environmental influences on cannabis use initiation and problematic use: a meta-analysis of twin studies

Addiction ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 105 (3) ◽  
pp. 417-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin J. H. Verweij ◽  
Brendan P. Zietsch ◽  
Michael T. Lynskey ◽  
Sarah E. Medland ◽  
Michael C. Neale ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Environmental Influences ◽  
Twin Studies ◽  
Cannabis Use ◽  
Problematic Use
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document