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Endophenotypes, Personality, and Mental Disorder

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Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences

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Definition

Either one or a group of components in the pathway from distal genotype to psychiatric mental disorder that is measurable, demonstrates heritability, is expressed proportionality more in unaffected family members than in the general population, and is state-independent (even evident before the disease is fully expressed).

Introduction

The concept of endophenotype has been given prominence by Gottesman and Gould (2003). They defined it as the ensemble of measurable components in the pathway from distal genotype to psychiatric “disease” that fills the “invisible” gap between them. Individual endophenotypes refer to any one measure that contributes to specifying the pathway from genes to mental disorder. In the original paper on the topic, Gottesman and Shields (1972, 1973) referred to endophenotypes as “internal” phenotypes.

By definition, endophenotypes lie between the genotype and the disease at issue, but they might lie closer either to the distal end of the pathway, or the...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Glendon College, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Gerald Young

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  1. Gerald Young
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Correspondence to Gerald Young .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

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  1. The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

    Julie Schermer

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Young, G. (2017). Endophenotypes, Personality, and Mental Disorder. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_749-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_749-1

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