Genetics, Environment and Family Relationships

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The field of behavioral genetics has demonstrated that heredity influences differences among people for many aspects of behavior, including cognitive abilities, personality, and psychopathology. However, little is known about the extent to which genetic factors influence behavioral interactions for pairs of individuals. From the perspective of child development, some of the most important interactions are those within the family, yet essentially nothing is known about such family relationships from the perspective of behavioral genetics. Since 1985, NSF has supported research to study family relationships as part of the longitudinal Colorado Adoption Project (CAP). A unique aspect of the CAP families is that one- half consist of genetically-unrelated adoptive relationships (that is, adoptive mothers and their adopted children and adoptive siblings) and the other half of the families are non- doptive families. By comparing relationships in adoptive and non-adoptive families, it is possible to begin to understand the role of genetic factors in the development of family relationships. In early childhood, when the younger sibling was between three and five years of age, visits were made to the home of 150 CAP families in order to videotape mother-child, child-sibling, and mother-child-sibling interactions, as well as to conduct interviews and unstructured observations. The current research will study the same families three years later in middle childhood, after the younger sibling has begun school. This longitudinal extension of the study will make it possible for the first time to explore the genetics of family relationships during the important developmental transition from early childhood to middle childhood. This study is embedded within the longitudinal CAP which collects extensive information on the CAP children and their home environment from infancy to adolescence. Thus, it will be possible to study antecedents and consequences of family relationships, and to consider the role of heredity in these associations.