Counterproductive behaviors: relations and heritabilities of counterproductivity across the life domains

Abstract

A sample of 500 male twins is used to demonstrate that counterproductive behaviors across developmental periods and several life domains, including school, non-work, substance use, and work are related. Biometric analyses show that most of the variance in the counterproductivity scales/domains examined, including counterproductivity at work, is attributable to genetic and unique environmental factors. It is also found that a general counterproductivity factor accounts for approximately half of the variance in the specific counterproductivity scales. This general counterproductivity factor is also mostly affected by genetic (75.4%) and unique environmental factors (24.6%).