Parental Affection and Offspring Personality Development: A Genetically Sensitive Assessment Informed by Life History Theory

• In Event: Evolutionary Theory and Genetic Confounding

Abstract

A long line of developmental psychological research argues that parental engagement and affection can impact the personality development of offspring. Additionally, life history theory posits that stable and predictable environments encourage the development of a personality profile reflective of a slower life history strategy. Recent behavioral genetic analyses, however, have illustrated the importance of genetic factors in the development of personality as well as behavioral and personality manifestations of life history strategy. Informed by this literature, the current paper employed a sample of monozygotic twins derived from a longitudinal sample of American youth. Using a twin-discordant method, longitudinal analyses assessed the extent to which within-twin differences in parental engagement and affection during early adolescence affected within-twin differences in personality profiles during adulthood (as measured by the general factor of personality). Bivariate and multivariate analyses indicated a lack of association between the parenting measures and indicators of personality after controlling for shared genetic and shared non-genetic factors. Implications for personality development and life history theory are discussed.

Author

• Joseph L Nedelec, University of Cincinnati