Heritability of generalized anxiety stability: a longitudinal twin study among young adults
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Abstract Background Despite the high prevalence of generalized anxiety among young adults, studies investigating factors that shape the course of these symptoms during the twenties are scarce. In addition, generalized anxiety can manifest in different ways, but it is unclear whether symptoms cluster under distinct dimensions in this age group. The current study addressed these gaps using data from the Twins Early Development Study. First, we examined genetic and environmental contributions to continuity and change in generalized anxiety symptoms in young adulthood and the heritability of a latent factor reflecting stability over this period. Next, to explore potential dimensions of generalized anxiety, we investigated the factorial structure of symptoms as well as etiological influences underpinning the different factors. Methods The sample comprised 6,429 twin pairs. Generalized anxiety was assessed at six waves (age 23–26 years). Results Genetic factors largely accounted for continuity and environmental factors for change in symptom severity. Furthermore, the heritability of stable generalized anxiety (60%) was substantially higher than that at any single time point (39–46%). Regarding the factorial structure of symptoms, we found evidence of two dimensions: worry-avoidance and somatic-distress symptoms. Genetic correlations (rG = 0.77–0.91) between the two dimensions were higher than environmental correlations (rE = 0.26–0.65). Conclusions The current findings suggest that extracting temporal stability provides the strongest opportunity to identify genetic influences on generalized anxiety. Moreover, the results indicate that differences between generalized anxiety dimensions are more likely attributable to environmental than genetic effects.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.002 | 0.004 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".