Neuroticism is a personality trait characterised by easily experiencing negative emotions. This A-Z blog offers some highlights of what is currently known about the genetic and environmental influences on neuroticism, as well as its overlap with and relevance for psychiatric disorders.
Decades of twin studies have yielded evidence of the heritability of many different traits. What we mean by this is the proportion of variation in a trait that can be explained by genetic differences between individuals. Research has moved towards identifying specific genetic variants associated with these traits through Genome-Wide…
Human beings are social species. We naturally interact and bond with other people. According to evolutionary theory, loneliness has played an important role in the survival of humans because connecting with others increases one’s chances of living (Cacioppo, Hawkley, et al., 2006). Still today, it seems that we feel lonely…
In this post Professor Alice Gregory [EDIT Lab collaborator and former PhD student] discusses the aetiology of sleep problems – giving us a taster of what to expect from her book, ‘Nodding Off: The Science of Sleep’
This week in our A-Z post for ‘K’, Tom McAdams [EDIT Lab Associate Director] outlines Kinship, a core concept in the field of behavioural genetics.
Depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide, contributing considerably to early mortality. Despite significant efforts, the genetics underlying depression has been difficult to identify and there has been limited progress in developing new treatments. Last month the largest genome-wide association study of depression was published in Nature Genetics (1)….
This week we continue our alphabetical A-Z series with a post on J for Jobs in Academia. Shivani and Michela [EDIT lab placement students] talk to academics from a range of different career levels based at the Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, King’s College London. Representing the PhD/MSc Level (Meg Skelton), Post-Doctoral Research…
This week on the blog Kara writes about conduct problems and the importance of identifying and understanding differing aetiologies and trajectories across through the lifespan.
If we start this blog post with the statement that “people differ from each other”, you will probably snort with derision thinking of snowflakes and popular cheesy quotes about being unique like everyone else, but it is true. People do differ and in so many ways. This week Elena and…
Heritability is the proportion of variation in a given population that is due to genetic differences. If a trait is highly heritable, it is more likely to be shared between individuals of close genetic relatedness, regardless of whether they share the same environment. This concept can be difficult to wrap…
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