COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Family Environmental Influences on Cognitive and Related Outcomes -- An Adoption Study

尽管人们认识到基因影响发育，但环境仍然是学习和社会化的一个至关重要的领域-影响儿童的认知，社会和情感发展。虽然许多研究已经研究了环境过程和发展之间的关系，但几乎所有这些研究都研究了生活在一起的生物相关家庭成员。这使得研究难以解释，因为家庭环境影响与潜在的遗传影响混淆。以往研究的另一个局限性是，尽管家庭内部存在许多重要的环境差异，但环境往往被认为是家庭之间的现象（例如社会经济地位）。拟议研究的目标是通过检查收养家庭来检查环境。由于收养家庭在遗传上是不相关的，因此可以在控制遗传因素的同时，研究环境对认知、社会和情感技能发展的影响。此外，通过单独研究这些收养家庭中的每个孩子，也可以研究家庭成员之间的环境相似性和差异。通过了解环境及其对儿童发展的影响，有可能制定有针对性的预防和干预计划，以改善所有儿童的认知和行为结果。此外，更好地了解环境有助于将新兴的遗传研究纳入背景。

Despite the realization that genes affect development, the environment remains a critically important domain of learning and socialization--affecting children's cognitive, social, and emotional development. Although many studies have examined the relationship between environmental processes and development, nearly all of this research has examined biologically-related family members living together. This makes the research difficult to interpret because family environmental influences are confounded with potential genetic influences. Another limitation of previous research is that the environment is often thought of as a between-family phenomenon (for example socioeconomic status), despite the fact that many important environmental differences exist within families. The goal of the proposed study is to examine the environment by examining adoptive families. Because adoptive families are genetically unrelated, it is possible to examine environmental effects upon the development of cognitive, social, and emotional skills while controlling for genetic factors. Additionally, by studying each child within these adoptive families individually, it is also possible to examine environmental similarities and differences among family members. By understanding the environment and its effect on the development of children, it may be possible to develop targeted prevention and intervention programs for improving cognitive and behavioral outcomes for all children. Additionally, better understanding of the environment helps place the emerging genetic research into context.