Background-Childhood dysregulation, which reflects deficits in the capacity to regulate or control one's thoughts, emotions and behaviours, is associated with psychopathology throughout childhood and into adulthood. Exposures to adversity during the prenatal period, including prenatal depression, can influence the development of dysregulation, and a number of candidate genes have been suggested as moderators of prenatal exposure, including polymorphisms in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR). We examined whether prenatal depression and child 5-HTTLPR interact to predict childhood dysregulation.

Background-Disorganized attachment is an important early risk factor for socio-emotional problems throughout childhood and into adulthood. Prevailing models of the etiology of disorganized attachment emphasize the role of highly dysfunctional parenting, to the exclusion of complex models examining the interplay of child and parental factors. Decades of research have established that extreme child birth weight may have long-term effects on developmental processes. These effects are typically negative, but this is not always the case. Recent studies have also identified the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) as a moderator of childrearing effects on the development of disorganized attachment. However, there are inconsistent findings concerning which variant of the polymorphism (7-repeat long-form allele or non 7-repeat short form) is most

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