The quality of the interparental relationship does not moderate the etiology of child conduct problems

BackgroundAlthough there is a clear phenotypic relationship between the quality of the interparental or marital relationship and child conduct problems (CP), the etiology of this association is as yet unclear. One possibility is that this association takes the form of a genotype–environment interaction (G × E), whereby the quality of the interparental relationship acts to moderate the etiology of child CP. The current study sought to evaluate this possibility.MethodWe examined multiple measures and informant reports of the quality of the interparental relationship in a sample of more than 700 child twin families from the Michigan State University Twin Registry (MSUTR). Analyses consisted of a series of latent G × E models.ResultsThe ‘no moderation’ model provided the best fit to the data in nearly all cases, findings that collectively provide strong evidence against the possibility that the etiology of CP is moderated by the quality of the interparental relationship.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that, contrary to implicit (and sometimes explicit) assumptions in the field, it is not the case that every environmental risk (or protective) factor exacerbates (or suppresses) genetic influences on CP. Future research should seek to delineate the specific environmental experiences that do serve as etiologic moderators of CP, and to clarify how this G × E interplay might change over the course of development.

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Parent–child conflict as an etiological moderator of childhood conduct problems: an example of a ‘bioecological’ gene–environment interaction

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291713001190 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 44 (5) ◽

pp. 1065-1076 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

S. A. Burt ◽

K. L. Klump

Keyword(s):

Conduct Problems ◽

Environmental Risk ◽

Environmental Influences ◽

Genetic Influences ◽

Environment Interaction ◽

Child Conduct Problems ◽

Gene Environment Interaction ◽

Gene Environment ◽

Child Conduct ◽

Parent Child

BackgroundPrior research has suggested that, consistent with the diathesis–stress model of gene–environment interaction (G × E), parent–child conflict activates genetic influences on antisocial/externalizing behaviors during adolescence. It remains unclear, however, whether this model is also important during childhood, or whether the moderation of child conduct problems by negative/conflictive parenting is better characterized as a bioecological interaction, in which environmental influences are enhanced in the presence of environmental risk whereas genetic influences are expressed most strongly in their absence. The current study sought to distinguish between these possibilities, evaluating how the parent–child relationship moderates the etiology of childhood-onset conduct problems.MethodWe conducted a series of ‘latent G by measured E’ interaction analyses, in which a measured environmental variable was allowed to moderate both genetic and environmental influences on child conduct problems. Participants included 500 child twin pairs from the Michigan State University Twin Registry (MSUTR).ResultsShared environmental influences on conduct problems were found to be several-fold larger in those with high levels of parent–child conflict as compared with those with low levels. Genetic influences, by contrast, were proportionally more influential at lower levels of conflict than at higher levels.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that, although the diathesis–stress form of G × E appears to underlie the relationship between parenting and conduct problems during adolescence, this pattern of moderation does not extend to childhood. Instead, results were more consistent with the bioecological form of G × E which postulates that, in some cases, genetic influences may be most fully manifested in the absence of environmental risk.

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