Genetically-informed designs of externalizing behavior and romantic relationships

描述（由申请人提供）：这个独立的博士后奖学金（F32）的目的是支持候选人的培训目标，以获得有关药物使用和精神病学结果的知识，遗传流行病学和基因发现方法的专业知识，并进一步发展学术研究生涯所需的技能。为了实现这些培训目标，候选人将使用基因知情设计来表征外化行为和关系因素之间的关联。许多研究记录了外化行为之间的关联（例如，酒精和非法药物滥用和依赖以及反社会行为）、婚姻状况和浪漫关系功能障碍。外化行为和关系特质都受到遗传的影响;然而，从遗传的角度对它们的关联知之甚少。鉴于越来越多的证据表明遗传易感性和环境风险因素并不是相互独立的，描述这些关联是很重要的。关于本项目，例如，行为去抑制（即，在外化行为中共享的高度可遗传的因素）也损害了人际过程（例如，解决冲突，信任和承诺），这是形成和维持和谐的浪漫关系的核心。两个核心假设指导这项工作。首先，婚姻状况和关系功能障碍与外化行为有着共同的遗传基础。第二，在考虑了基因与环境的相关性之后，婚姻状况和关系功能障碍将缓和遗传对外部行为的影响。该项目的第一部分将使用遗传流行病学（即，双胞胎）的方法来检验是否外化行为和浪漫关系因素共享潜在的遗传影响，以及浪漫关系因素是否调节了外化行为的潜在遗传影响。本研究的第二部分将使用基因发现的方法来研究外化行为和关系因素是否共享测量的遗传影响，以及关系因素是否调节外化行为的测量遗传影响。因此，这项工作使用互补的遗传信息的方法（双胞胎研究和基因鉴定方法），以确定在何种程度上遗传和/或环境的影响对外部行为也影响一个人的结婚，离婚，或有一个功能失调的关系的倾向，以及是否关系因素适度的遗传影响对外部行为。这项工作有助于精神病学研究的一个中心目标，即了解突出的环境因素，如婚姻状况和关系功能障碍，如何与遗传倾向结合起来预测疾病的发作和病程。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The objective of this independent postdoctoral fellowship award (F32) is to support the candidate's training goals to gain knowledge on substance use and psychiatric outcomes, expertise in genetic epidemiological and gene-finding methods, and further develop the skills needed for an academic research career. To achieve these training goals, the candidate will use genetically informed designs to characterize the associations between externalizing behavior and relationship factors. Numerous studies document associations among externalizing behavior (e.g., alcohol and illicit drug abuse and dependence and antisocial behavior), marital status, and romantic relationship dysfunction. Externalizing behavior and relationship traits are both under genetic influence; still, little is known about their associations from a genetic perspective. Characterizing these associations is important in view of growing evidence that genetic predispositions and environmental risk factors are not independent of one another. With respect to the present project, for example, behavioral disinhibition (i.e., the highly heritable factor shared among externalizing behaviors) also compromises the interpersonal processes (e.g., conflict resolution, trust, and commitment) that are central to the formation and maintenance of harmonious romantic relationships. Two central hypotheses guide this work. First, it is expected that marital status and relationship dysfunction will have a common genetic basis with externalizing behavior. Second, it is expected that, after accounting for gene-environment correlation, marital status and relationship dysfunction will moderate genetic influences on externalizing behavior. The first part of this project will use genetic epidemiological (i.e., twin) methods to examine whether externalizing behavior and romantic relationship factors share latent genetic influences and whether romantic relationship factors moderate latent genetic influences on externalizing behavior. The second part of this project will use gene-finding methods to examine whether externalizing behavior and relationship factors share measured genetic influences, and whether relationship factors moderate measured genetic influences on externalizing behavior. Thus, this work uses complementary genetically-informed methods (twin studies and gene identification methods) to determine the extent to which genetic and/or environmental influences toward externalizing behavior also influence one's propensity to marry, divorce, or have a dysfunctional relationship, and whether relationship factors moderate genetic influences on externalizing behavior. This work contributes to a central goal of psychiatric research, which is to understand how salient environmental factors, such as marital status and relationship dysfunction, come together with genetic predispositions to predict the onset and course of disorders.