ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Psychopathology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1564305
The etiological relationship between the general factors of psychopathology and personality; a longitudinal twin study from adolescence into young adulthood
Provisionally accepted
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
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Background: Mental disorders and normal personality are interconnected domains. Recent studies highlight the dimensional and hierarchical nature of psychopathology and personality, focusing on their general factor levels. However, their relationship remains unclear.Aims: This study explored the etiological relationship between the general factors of psychopathology and personality from adolescence to young adulthood. Methods: Longitudinal data from seven national twin cohorts (N=1,538 pairs) were collected across three waves (ages 12-22). Data was analyzed using a genetically informative random intercept cross-lagged panel model and Cholesky decomposition modeling.Results: Negligible cross-lagged effects were observed between the general factors. Both showed substantial stability, with genetic influences explaining most of the timeinvariant variance. About one-quarter of genetic stability was shared.Conclusion: Psychopathology and personality are distinct yet parallel domains developing through adolescence into young adulthood. Notably, change in one did not lead to change in the other.
Keywords: Psychopathology, Personality, General factors, Adolescent Development, twin study
Received: 21 Jan 2025; Accepted: 20 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Waaktaar, Skaug and Torgersen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Trine Waaktaar, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
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