Behavioral problems of children: what’s the cause?

Researcher: Ms E.M. (Eske) Derks

Thousands of parents complete the Child Behavioral Checklist: a questionnaire that measures childrens’ problem behavior. This questionnaire is sent when the children are 3, 5, 7, 10 and 12 years old. A lot of research can be done using of this information. One of the questions we try to answer is the following: what causes problem behavior in children: is it a matter of genes or does the environment cause problem behavior? In other words: is nature or nurture the cause of behavioral problems like ADHD? Or is it an interaction between these two factors?
The study is longitudinal; the children are followed from their third until their 12^th birthday. This enables us to find out if genes and environment cause the same amount of variation in behavior at different ages. Another question that can be answered is if the same genes that cause variation in behavior when the children are three years old, cause variation in behavior when they are twelve years old, or if different genes play a role. The cooperation of Dutch twins, for which we are very grateful, enables us to provide answers to many important questions.

Ms Derks started her research in October 2001 and has finished it in October 2006.

If you would like to know more about this project, please contact the NTR secretary.