Genes, Enivronment and the Adjustment of Family Members

描述（由申请人提供）：研究了遗传和环境对家庭关系测量的影响以及家庭关系与心理健康之间的关联，发现了成人和儿童两种不同的结果模式。对于儿童，遗传因素解释了亲子关系与儿童适应之间的大部分协方差，而对于成人，非共享环境因素解释了婚姻关系与成人适应之间的大部分协方差。这些不同的发现模式表明，将相关的家庭关系与儿童和成人的适应联系起来涉及不同的机制。拟议的竞争性续期申请旨在扩大双胞胎妈妈项目（R01 MH54610），以包括双胞胎父亲及其家庭（N=450对双胞胎及其家庭）的样本，并收集额外的125对双胞胎母亲为900对双胞胎父母及其家庭（总N= 2700人）的样本。这个扩大的样本将使我们能够检查遗传和环境对家庭关系和妇女适应之间关系的影响模式是否也适用于男性。我们还将能够利用全双胞胎家庭设计来努力区分不同类型的基因型-环境相关性，以确定家庭关系与儿童适应之间的关联。因此，这些信息将使我们能够更好地了解家庭关系如何以及为什么影响家庭成员的心理健康。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Studies that have examined genetic and environmental contributions to measures of family relationships and to associations between family relationships and mental health have found two different patterns of results for adults and children. For children, genetic factors explain most of the covariance between parent-child relationships and child adjustment, while in adults nonshared environmental factors account for most of the covariance between marital relationships and adult adjustment. These different patterns of findings suggest that different mechanisms are involved in linking pertinent family relationships to adjustment in children and adults. The proposed competitive renewal application seeks to extend the Twin Moms Project (R01 MH54610) to include a sample of twin fathers and their families (N=450 twin pairs and their families) and to collect an addition 125 pairs of twin mothers for a sample of 900 twin parents and their families (total N=2,700 individuals). This expanded sample will enable us to examine whether patterns of genetic and environmental influences on associations between family relationships and women's adjustment also hold for men. We will also be able to utilize the full twin families design in an effort to distinguish between different types of genotype-environment correlation for the associations between family relationships and child adjustment. As such, this information will enable us to understand better how and why relationships within the family affect the mental health of family members. We will collect data on family relationships, including parent-child, marital and siblings, on adult and child mental health, and on the individual attributes of family members. We will recruit 450 twin fathers who have at least one biological child from 11 to 20 years of age who resides with them at least half time, has been cohabitating with the same partner for at least 5 years, and whose cotwin also meets the above criterion. Twin parents, their partner and the target child will participate through questionnaires and an interview, using a multi-agent, multi-method strategy. This will enable us to examine the following specific aims: (1) examine the associations between parent-child and marital relationships and the mental health of women and men, (2) examine the associations between parent-child relationships and child mental health and explore possible mediators of these associations, and finally, (3) disentangle genetic, shared environmental and nonshared environmental influences for the associations identified in Specific Aims 1 and 2 using a twin family approach.