Genetics, Environment and Family Relationships

遗传、环境和家庭关系

• 批准号: 8806589
• 负责人: Robert Plomin
• 金额: $ 21.24万
• 依托单位: Pennsylvania State Univ University Park
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 1988
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1988-08-01 至 1992-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=8806589&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Genetics; Environment; Family; Relationships

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.

行为遗传学领域已经证明，遗传影响着人们在许多方面的行为差异，包括认知能力、个性和精神病理学。然而，对于遗传因素在多大程度上影响成对个体的行为互动，人们知之甚少。从儿童发展的角度来看，一些最重要的相互作用发生在家庭内部，但从行为遗传学的角度来看，对这种家庭关系基本上一无所知。自1985年以来，国家科学基金会一直支持研究家庭关系，作为纵向科罗拉多收养项目（CAP）的一部分。CAP家庭的一个独特之处在于，其中一半是由基因无关的收养关系组成的（即，收养母亲及其收养的孩子和收养的兄弟姐妹），而另一半家庭是非收养家庭。通过比较收养家庭和非收养家庭的关系，有可能开始理解遗传因素在家庭关系发展中的作用。在儿童早期，当最小的兄弟姐妹在三到五岁之间时，我们访问了150个CAP家庭，以便拍摄母亲-孩子、孩子-兄弟姐妹和母亲-孩子-兄弟姐妹的互动，并进行访谈和非结构化观察。目前的研究将在三年后的童年中期，也就是弟弟妹妹开始上学后，对这些家庭进行研究。这项纵向延伸的研究将使我们第一次有可能探索从幼儿到幼儿中期重要发展过渡时期家庭关系的遗传学。本研究嵌入在纵向CAP中，收集了大量关于CAP儿童及其从婴儿期到青春期的家庭环境的信息。因此，有可能研究家庭关系的前因后果，并考虑遗传在这些关联中的作用。