Explaining the influence of non-shared environment (NSE) on symptoms of behaviour problems from preschool to adulthood: mind the missing NSE gap

Open Access paper from the JCPP

Background – Individual differences in symptoms of behaviour problems in childhood and adolescence are not primarily due to nature or nurture – another substantial source of variance is non-shared environment (NSE). However, few specific environmental factors have been found to account for these NSE estimates. This creates a ‘missing NSE’ gap analogous to the ‘missing heritability’ gap, which refers to the shortfall in identifying DNA differences responsible for heritability. We assessed the extent to which variance in behaviour problem symptoms during the first two decades of life can be accounted for by measured NSE effects after controlling for genetics and shared environment.

Authors; Agnieszka Gidziela, Margherita Malanchini, Kaili Rimfeld, Andrew McMillan, Angelica Ronald, Essi Viding, Alison Pike, Kathryn Asbury, Thalia C. Eley,S ophie von Stumm, Robert Plomin

First published: 27 November 2022

https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13729

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Other resources

• Podcast ‘Mind the Missing NSE Gap: The Influence of Non-shared Environment on Symptoms of Behaviour Problems’ with Aga Gidziela