Heritabilities, by the multiple abstract variance analysis (MAVA) model and objective test measures, of personality traits U.I.23, capacity to mobilize, U.I.24, anxiety, U.I.26, narcistic ego and U.I.28, asthenia, by maximum-likelihood methods

Heritability coefficients are offered for four personality source traits, measured by the O-A (objective-analytic) 2-h performance battery. Five family constellations covering a total sample of 1221 boys 12-18 years old yielded nine concrete variances which the MAVA (multiple abstract variance analysis) model resolves into seven abstract variances: σ²_wg, within family genetic; σ²_wt.s, within family threptic; σ²_wt.t, within family threptic for twins; σ²_bg, between family genetic; G{cyrillic}_bgbt, correlation of genetic and threptic deviations across families, etc. Maximum likelihood was the method here used for the MAVA analysis. The best fit with maximum parsimony was to assume no genothreptic (G{cyrillic}_wgwt,G{cyrillic}_bgbt) correlations, but extension to the parsimony of assuming either no genetic or no threptic components gave no fit. The heritabilities found were compared with those from an earlier research and from a different (OSES) method applied to the present data. The agreement is quite good in assigning a moderate heritability value to capacity to mobilize vs. regression, U.I.23 (H about 0.30), and to anxiety, U.I.24 (H about 0.50); only moderately consistent in assigning a moderate H value to asthenia, U.I.28 (H about 0.30); and poorly consistent in assigning a low H value to narcistic ego, U.I.26. It is pointed out (a) that the low H for U.I.28 fits the theory of the origin of this trait well and (b) that, in view of estimates of the function fluctuation of U.I.23 and 24, a most probable conclusion is that a capacity to mobilize is quite substantially innate and a general proneness to anxiety is largely innate.