Fear and anxiety are conceptualized as responses to acute or potential threat, respectively. Adult twin studies found substantial interplay between genetic and environmental factors influencing fear disorders (phobias) and anxiety disorders. Research in children, however, has largely examined these factors independently. Thus, there exists a substantial knowledge gap regarding the underlying etiologic structure of these closely-related constructs during development. Symptom counts for five fear (criticism, the unknown, death, animal, medical) and four anxiety (generalized, panic, separation, social) dimensions were obtained for 373 twin pairs ages 9-14. Multivariate twin modeling was performed to elucidate the genetic and environmental influences distributed amongst these dimensions. The best fitting model contained one genetic, two familial environmental, and two unique environmental factors shared between fear and anxiety symptoms plus dimension-specific genetic and unique environmental factors. Although several environmental factors were shared between fear and anxiety dimensions, one latent factor accounted for genetic influences across both domains. While adult studies find somewhat distinct etiological differences between anxiety and phobic disorders, the current results suggest that their relative genetic and environmental influences are not as clearly demarcated in children. These etiological distinctions are more nuanced, likely contributing to the highly diffuse symptom patterns seen during development.

中文翻译：

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少年双胞胎的恐惧和焦虑的遗传和环境结构。

恐惧和焦虑分别被概念化为对急性或潜在威胁的反应。成人双胞胎研究发现，影响恐惧症（恐惧症）和焦虑症的遗传因素和环境因素之间存在重大的相互作用。然而，对儿童的研究很大程度上独立地研究了这些因素。因此，在开发过程中，与这些紧密相关的构建体的潜在病因学结构存在很大的知识差距。对于373对9-14岁的双胞胎，获得了五个恐惧（批评，未知，死亡，动物，医学）和四个焦虑（普遍，恐慌，分离，社会）维度的症状计数。进行多变量孪生建模以阐明在这些维度中分布的遗传和环境影响。最佳拟合模型包含一个遗传因素，两个家庭环境，以及恐惧和焦虑症状之间共享的两个独特环境因素，以及特定于维度的遗传和独特环境因素。尽管恐惧和焦虑维度共享了几种环境因素，但其中一个潜在因素解释了跨两个领域的遗传影响。尽管成人研究发现焦虑症和恐惧症之间的病因学差异有些明显，但目前的结果表明，儿童的相关遗传和环境影响尚不明确。这些病因学上的区别更加细微，可能导致了发育过程中出现的高度弥漫性症状。尽管恐惧和焦虑维度共享了几种环境因素，但其中一个潜在因素解释了跨两个领域的遗传影响。尽管成人研究发现焦虑症和恐惧症之间的病因学差异有些明显，但目前的结果表明，儿童的相关遗传和环境影响尚不明确。这些病因学上的区别更加细微，可能导致了发育过程中出现的高度弥漫性症状。尽管恐惧和焦虑维度共享了几种环境因素，但其中一个潜在因素解释了跨两个领域的遗传影响。尽管成人研究发现焦虑症和恐惧症之间的病因学差异有些明显，但目前的结果表明，儿童的相关遗传和环境影响尚不明确。这些病因学上的区别更加细微，可能导致了发育过程中出现的高度弥漫性症状。目前的结果表明，他们对儿童的相对遗传和环境影响尚不明确。这些病因学上的区别更加细微，可能导致了发育过程中出现的高度弥漫性症状。目前的结果表明，他们对儿童的相对遗传和环境影响尚不明确。这些病因学上的区别更加细微，可能导致了发育过程中出现的高度弥漫性症状。