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Goldsmith, H. Hill, PhDTitle: Fluno Bascom Professor & Leona Tyler Professor of PsychologyDepartment: Department of Psychology Institution: University of Wisconsin-Madison Mailing Address: 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53705 Phone: (608) 265-2674 Website: http://psych.wisc.edu/goldsmith/ Research InterestsThe UW Twin Center, founded by Dr. H. Hill Goldsmith, conducts research in socio-emotional development from infancy to middle school years in twins. Currently, there are three ongoing studies at the Twin Center. Each of these studies strives to uncover the links among various socio-emotional characteristics including personality and characteristics in other domains such as vulnerability to psychopathology and patterns in physiological activation. These studies include: the Genetics of Emotional Ontogeny (GEO), Wisconsin Twin Project (WTP) and the Affect, Psychophysiology and Heritability Encoded by the Conduct of Twins (APHECT). Because all three studies examine twins, our findings elucidate both the genetic and environmental influences on various aspects of development.SPD Research SummaryGoldsmith and colleagues are studying genetic influences on tactile and auditory over-responsiveness using twin methodology. They have conducted three studies to date: The first study was a toddler study and evaluated 1394 twin pairs (mean age 27 months) using a parental report measure that included a five item scale of auditory and tactile over-responsivity. The second study was a preschool study and evaluated 282 twin pairs (age 3-6 years) and was a follow-up of extreme and matched control twins from the toddler study and was based on parental report using 54 parent-rated items of sensory over-responsivity and 78 home visits for observational assessment of twin SD and other symptoms. The third study is an ongoing first grade study of 460 twin pairs, with160 including in- home assessment (age 7-8 years). The auditory and tactile symptoms were reasonably normally distributed in the toddler sample, with a small percent of over-responders clearly observed in the tail of the distributions. In a subsample followed up two years later, the scores were moderately stable, with 48% of extreme tactile group remaining extreme and 50% of the extreme auditory group remaining extreme (in the absence of intervention). The association of sensory over-responsiveness with other social, emotional and psychological factors was examined. Auditory and tactile over-responsiveness was significantly correlated with anxiety (.20-.24) but appeared be a relatively independent dimension in the larger population (all other correlations < .20). In the first grade study (n=150) significant correlations were observed between auditory and tactile over- responsivity with items on the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (e.g. for anxiety symptoms including agoraphobia, separation anxiety, specific phobia and social phobia, correlations ranged from .18 to .27). Lastly, Goldsmith and colleagues examined genetic effects for the full range of trait scores, for extreme scores and for tactile and auditory scores by examining twin similarity and parent-offspring similarity. If genetic effects are present, classic assumptions of twin studies imply that identical (MZ) twins, who share 100% of their genes, should be more similar than fraternal (DX) twins, who share only 50% of segregating genes, on the average. Findings in the toddler study were that, for auditory over-responsiveness, 65% of MZ twin pairs as compared with 50% of DZ twin pairs were concordant. For tactile over-responsiveness, 83% of MZ pairs, compared with 32% of DZ pairs were concordant for tactile symptoms. These findings suggest genetic effects, especially for the tactile domain.Back to SPD-SWG Participants Mail this page to a friend | |
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