GENES, ADOLESCENT ADJUSTMENT, AND FAMILY PROCESSES

近年来，数量遗传学和分子遗传学取得了重大进展。数量遗传学已经得出的压倒一切的结论是，遗传因素对大多数调整措施都很重要。更令人惊讶的是，遗传因素对家庭过程的衡量也有很大影响。基因分型、候选基因的识别和分子遗传学中关联策略的使用的进步使得研究基因之间的关联和连续分布的特征成为可能，比如调节。拟议的三年项目寻求结合这些进展，使用候选基因关联来检查青少年的适应情况。此外，这项研究将扩展这一策略，以探索家庭过程在调节和调节青春期基因表达方面的作用。遗传物质(脸颊刮片)将从参与青少年发展项目(NEAD)的720个家庭的样本中收集，包括两个兄弟姐妹(10岁至18岁，时间1)和父母双方。NeAD是由国立卫生研究院赞助的项目(MH-43373和MH-48825)，每隔三年进行两次评估，重点是了解青少年的适应以及遗传因素和家庭过程在形成适应中的作用。这是唯一一项对包括观察性评估在内的家庭过程进行密集测量的定量遗传学研究。从样本中收集遗传物质将能够检验(1)候选基因与青少年适应的相关性，(2)候选基因与适应的纵向关联，(3)作为基因表达调节因素的家庭过程(基因-环境相互作用)，以及(4)作为基因表达中介的家庭过程(基因-环境相关性)。纳入兄弟姐妹和父母将允许使用不受人口分层影响的对照小组策略。例如，将对兄弟姐妹对中的一个成员进行候选基因关联，然后将另一个兄弟姐妹用于复制。因为NEAD是一个定量的遗传样本，所以可以计算遗传力，以确定与候选基因关联的最可能的可能性(即，遗传力最大的衡量标准是最好的起点)。此外，NEAD采用了仔细的表型测量，通过使用多测量、多代理评估。这一建议利用了数量遗传学的最新进展和分子遗传学的最新进展，具有很大的潜力来揭示基因如何影响发育的问题。

In recent years there have been major advances in quantitative and molecular genetics. The overwhelming conclusion that has been reached in quantitative genetics is that genetic factors are important for most measures of adjustment. More surprisingly, genetic factors also have substantial influence on measures of family processes. Advances in genotyping, the identification of candidate genes, and the use of association strategies in molecular genetics have allowed for the investigation of associations between genes and continuously distributed characteristics, like adjustment. The proposed three-year project seeks to combine these advances to use candidate gene association to examine adolescent adjustment. In addition, this research will extend this strategy to explore the role of family processes in both moderating and mediating gene expression during adolescence. Genetic material (cheek scrapings) will be collected from two siblings (ages 10 to 18 at time 1) and both parents from the sample of 720 families who participated in the Nonshared Environment in Adolescent Development Project (NEAD). NEAD is a NIMH-sponsored project (MH-43373 and MH-48825), assessed twice, three years apart, focused on understanding adolescent adjustment and the role of genetic factors and family processes in shaping adjustment. This is the only quantitative genetic study that has intensively measured family processes, including observational assessments. The collection of genetic material from this sample will enable the examination of (1) candidate gene associations with adolescent adjustment, (2) longitudinal associations of candidate genes and adjustment, (3) family processes as moderators of gene expression (genotype-environment interactions), and (4) family processes as mediators of gene expression (genotype-environment correlations). The inclusion of siblings and parents will allow the use of control group strategies that are not affected by population stratification. For example, candidate gene associations will be conducted for one member of the sibling pair and the other sibling is then used for replication. Because the NEAD is a quantitative genetic sample, heritabilities can be computed to identify the most likely possibilities for association with candidate genes (i.e., those measures with the largest heritabilities are the best starting points). In addition, NEAD employed careful measurement of phenotypes, through the use of multi-measure, multi-agent assessment. This proposal, using the most recent advances in quantitative genetics and the most recent advances in molecular genetics has great potential for informing the question of how genes influence development.