A multivariate genetic analysis of environmental sensitivity, anxiety sensitivity and reported life events in adolescents

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundDespite being considered a measure of environmental risk, reported life events are partly heritable. One mechanism that may contribute to their heritability is genetic influences on sensitivity. These sensitivity biases can relate to how individuals process the contextual aspects of their environment (environmental sensitivity) or how they interpret their own physical and emotional responses (anxiety sensitivity). The aim of this study was to explore the genetic and environmental overlap between self-reported life events and measures of sensitivity.MethodsAt age 17, individuals (N = 2,939) from the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS) completed measures of environmental sensitivity (Highly Sensitive Child Scale) and anxiety sensitivity (Children’s Anxiety Sensitivity Index), as well as reporting on their experience of 20 recent life events. Using multivariate Cholesky decomposition models, we investigated the shared genetic and environmental influences on the associations between these measures of sensitivity and the number of reported life events, as well as both negative and positive ratings of life events.ResultsThe majority of the associations between anxiety sensitivity, environmental sensitivity and reported life events were explained by shared genetic influences (59%-75%), with the remainder explained by non-shared environmental influences (25%-41%). Environmental sensitivity showed comparable genetic correlations with both negative and positive ratings of life events (rA= .21 and .15), anxiety sensitivity only showed a significant genetic correlation with negative ratings of life events (rA= .33). Approximately 10% of the genetic influences on reported life events were accounted for by genetic influences shared with anxiety sensitivity and environmental sensitivity.ConclusionsA proportion of the heritable component of reported life events is captured by measures of sensitivity. Differences in how individuals process the contextual aspects of the environment or interpret their own physical and emotional response to environmental stimuli may be one mechanism through which genetic liability influences the subjective experience of life events.