Nonshared environmental influences on teacher-reported behaviour problems: monozygotic twin differences in perceptions of the classroom

The identification of specific nonshared environments responsible for the variance in behaviour problems is a key challenge. METHODS: Nonshared environmental influences on teacher-reported behaviour problems were explored independently of genetics using the monozygotic (MZ) twin differences design. Six aspects of classroom environment were rated by a representative sample of 570 nine-year-old MZ twins in the UK in different classrooms and were related to their different teachers' reports of prosocial behaviour, hyperactivity, conduct problems, peer problems and emotional symptoms. RESULTS: Within-pair differences in perceptions of the classroom were significantly correlated with teacher-reported behaviour problems, indicating that children with less favourable perceptions of their classroom environment were reported by their teachers as less prosocial, more hyperactive, and to have more conduct and peer problems. Socioeconomic status did not significantly moderate any of these relationships. However, parent-reported household chaos was a significant moderator. CONCLUSIONS: The classroom environment is related to behaviour problems even when genetic factors are held constant. Classroom environment is more strongly associated with behaviour problems when the home environment is more chaotic

Household chaos - links with parenting and child behaviour

Background: The study aimed to confirm previous findings showing links between household chaos and parenting in addition to examining whether household chaos was predictive of children's behaviour over and above parenting. In addition, we investigated whether household chaos acts as a moderator between parenting and children's behaviour. Method: The sample consisted of 118 working‐ and middle‐class two‐parent English families with two children aged 4–8. Parents provided reports of the parent–child relationship, the level of chaos in their home and the children's problematic behaviour. The children also provided reports of parent–child relationships via a puppet interview. Results: The results confirmed the links between household chaos and parenting, and indicated that household chaos is predictive of children's problem behaviour over and above parenting. In addition, in a minority of cases, household chaos played a moderating role between parenting and children's behaviour in that it exacerbated the effect of poorer quality parenting on children's behaviour. Conclusions: Household chaos is able to work in an additive way and predict children's problem behaviour over and above parenting, and is particularly potent when in combination with less positive/more negative parenting