Genetics of Personality Disorders

Ted Reichborn‐Kjennerud, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway

Published online: April 2010

DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0022415

Evidence from family, adoption and twin studies indicate that genetic factors significantly influence liability to personality disorders and contribute to the co-morbidity between personality disorders and between personality disorders and other psychiatric disorders. Molecular genetic studies aiming at identifying specific genes have been applied, to a limited extent, to personality. Significant associations have, however, been found with candidate genes related to neurotransmitter pathways, especially in the dopaminergic or serotonergic systems. Both quantitative and molecular genetic studies indicate that gene–environment correlation and interaction play a role in the aetiology of personality disorders. Methods like genome-wide association studies, analyses of copy-number variation, studies of rare genetic variants and epigenetic methods have not yet been applied to personality disorders, but will hopefully contribute to our future understanding of the causal mechanisms involved.

Key Concepts:

  • Personality disorders are significantly influenced by genetic factors.
  • Co-morbidity between personality disorders and between personality disorders and other mental disorders are significantly influenced by shared genetic liability.
  • Candidate gene association studies indicate significant relationships between personality disorders and genes related to neurotransmitter pathways, especially in the dopaminergic or serotonergic systems.
  • Both quantitative and molecular genetic studies suggest that gene–environment interplay is involved in the aetiology of personality disorders.

Keywords: personality disorders; genetics; twin studies; candidate genes; gene–environment correlation; gene–environment interaction

Figure 1. Genetic parameter estimates from best fitting model for 10 DSM-IV personality disorders – Path estimates are standardised regression coefficients so they must be squared to equal the proportion of variance accounted for in the dependent variable. ‘A’ stands for additive genetic effects. The subscripts ‘C’ and ‘S’ stand, respectively, for common factor and disorder-specific effects. The first, second and third genetic common factors are indicated by the subscripts ‘C1’, ‘C2’ and ‘C3’. Paths with values +0.28 (which account for 8% of phenotypic variance) are coloured with the first, second and third common factor indicated by, respectively, red, green and blue and the disorder-specific factors by pink. Paths not exceeding the +0.28 cutoff are depicted in grey. Kendler et al., 2008. Copyright © 2008 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
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 Further reading
    book Dolan-Sewell RT, Krueger RF and Shea MT (2001) "Co-occurrence with syndrome disorders". In: Livesley WJ (ed.) Handbook of Personality Disorders: Theory, Research and Treatment, pp. 84–104. The Guilford Press: New York.
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    Livesley WJ (2008) Research trends and directions in the study of personality disorder. Psychiatric Clinics of North America 31: 545.
    Livesley WJ and Jang KL (2008) The behavioral genetics of personality disorder. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology 4: 247–274.
    book Parnas J, Licht D and Bovet P (2005) "Cluster A personality disorders: a review". In: Maj M, Akiskal H, Mezzich JE and Okasha A (eds) Personality Disorders, pp. 1–124. Chichester: Wiley.
    Reichborn-Kjennerud T (2008) Genetics of personality disorders. Psychiatric Clinics of North America 31: 421–440.

Related Sub-Topics:

Neural Networks and Behaviour | Molecular Genetics of Common and Complex Disease | Genetics of Intelligence and Cognition | Linkage Analysis | Quantitative Genetics
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Article Title: Genetics of Personality Disorders
 
How to Cite close
Reichborn‐Kjennerud, Ted(Apr 2010) Genetics of Personality Disorders. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0022415]