How Heritable are Parental Sensitivity and Limit‐Setting? A Longitudinal Child‐Based Twin Study on Observed Parenting

We examined the relative contribution of genetic, shared environmental and non‐shared environmental factors to the covariance between parental sensitivity and limit‐setting observed twice in a longitudinal study using a child‐based twin design. Parental sensitivity and parental limit‐setting were observed in 236 parents with each of their same‐sex toddler twin children (M (age) = 3.8 years; 58% monozygotic). Bivariate behavioral genetic models indicated substantial effects of similar shared environmental factors on parental sensitivity and limit‐setting and on the overlap within sensitivity and limit‐setting across 1 year. Moderate child‐driven genetic effects were found for parental limit‐setting in year 1 and across 1 year. Genetic child factors contributing to explaining the variance in limit‐setting over time were the same, whereas shared environmental factors showed some overlap.