The Early Growth and Development Study

描述(由申请人提供)：我们建议详细研究遗传因素和亲子关系结合在一起影响儿童在学步过渡期间的发展的机制。我们专注于导致内在化问题、外部化问题和依恋安全/社会能力的发展路径。目前的研究表明，这些途径中的每一条都可能有分离的遗传和父母影响，但现在还不知道这两条发育途径随着时间的推移是如何结合的。我们提出了一个设计，首先将有助于区分这两组重要的影响。然后，我们将研究它们在孩子从9个月到24个月的发育过程中结合的机制。我们的努力集中在三个目标上：1)澄清三条发展路径在幼儿时期的可分性；2)评估父母教养方式作为遗传影响对每一条路径的中介作用，唤起G.E相关；3)评估父母的特征和父母教养方式作为遗传影响对儿童行为表达的调节因素，GxE交互作用。我们的预期收养设计非常适合于发育研究中的这一重要步骤，它将研究400个“有轭”的家庭单元，每个单元包括生母和生父以及养母和养父以及领养的孩子。我们将评估出生父母和养父母的一系列智力和社会能力，以及与幼儿内化和外化有关的精神病理学。我们评估儿童发展中的社交能力以及内化和外化问题的早期表现，并使用对母子关系和父子关系的最新评估。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We propose to examine in detail the mechanisms by which genetic factors and parent-child relationships combine to influence the development of children across the toddler transition. We focus on the developmental pathways leading to internalizing problems, to externalizing problems and to attachment security/social competence. Current research indicates that each of these pathways may have separable genetic and parental influences but nothing is known now about how these two routes of development combine over time. We propose a design that will help first to separate these two sets of important influences. We will then examine the mechanisms by which they combine as the child develops from 9 until 24 months. We focus our efforts on three objectives: 1) clarification of the separability of the three developmental paths in very early childhood; 2) assessment of parenting as mediator of genetic influence on each of these pathways, evocative G.E correlation and 3) appraisal of parental characteristics and parenting as moderators of the expression of genetic influence on child behavior, GxE interaction. Our prospective adoption design, which is ideally suited for this important step in developmental studies, will study 400 "yoked" family units each of which contains a birth mother and birth father as well as an adoptive mother and father and the adopted child. We will assess birth and adoptive parents for a range intellectual and social competence as well as psychopathology that has been associated with internalizing and externalizing in young children. We assess the child's developing social competence as well as early manifestations of internalizing and externalizing problems and use state of the art assessments of mother-child and father-child relationships.