No abstract

Genetic susceptibility to antisocial behavior may increase fetal sensitivity to prenatal exposure to cigarette smoke. Testing putative Gene × Exposure mechanisms requires precise measurement of exposure and outcomes. We tested whether a functional polymorphism in the gene encoding the enzyme monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) interacts with exposure to predict pathways to adolescent antisocial behavior. We assessed both clinical and information-processing outcomes. 176 adolescents and their mothers participated in a follow-up of a pregnancy cohort with well-characterized exposure. A sex-specific pattern of gene × exposure interaction was detected. Exposed boys with the low activity MAOA 5’ untranslated region variable number of tandem repeats (uVNTR) genotype were at increased risk for Conduct Disorder (CD) symptoms. In contrast, exposed girls with the high activity MAOA uVNTR genotype were at increased risk for both CD symptoms and hostile attribution bias on a face-processing task. There was no evidence of a gene-environment correlation (rGE). Findings suggest that the MAOA uVNTR genotype, prenatal exposure to cigarettes, and sex interact to predict antisocial behavior and related information-processing patterns. Future research to replicate and extend these findings may focus on elucidating how gene × exposure interactions may shape behavior via associated changes in brain function.

This investigation examined the longitudinal prediction of emotional availability in mother-child interaction during middle childhood from two indicators of socioemotional functioning in infancy: security of infant-mother attachment; and maternal depressive symptoms. Forty-five children and their mothers were seen during infancy: security of attachment was assessed in the laboratory Strange Situation; and mothers completed a self-report of depressive symptoms. At age 7, children were observed with their mothers in a lab playroom. The dyad's emotional availability was assessed during reunion following an hour-long separation. Results demonstrated significant associations between infancy and middle childhood socioemotional organization, both for mothers and for children. Security of attachment in infancy was related to maternal sensitivity and structuring, and to child responsiveness and involvement at age 7. Maternal depressive symptoms in infancy were associated with maternal sensitivity and structuring at age 7. Greatest differentiation was found between infants with secure attachments and those with insecure-disorganized attachments.

What roles do parents and peers play in adolescent development? The answers that developmental research offers to this question are limited by two features of the literatures on parenting and peer relationships. The first is that these two literatures are largely separate, with little theorizing about connections between parent‐adolescent relationships and adolescents' choices of peer contexts. The second is that they make the simplifying assumption that parents and peers affect adolescents in unidirectional fashion, with little or no recognition of bi‐directional effects. In this chapter, we examine the parenting and peer literatures separately, reviewing the major works upon which broad conclusions have been drawn, and pointing out limitations such as the unidirectional‐effects assumption, construct‐invalid measures, and, for peer research, limiting investigations to peers in the school classroom. Concerning parenting, we argue for a bi‐directional approach to parent‐adolescent relationships. Concerning peers, we argue for ecologically valid research designs. We then offer a theoretical integration of the parenting and peer literatures that sees adolescents as active agents who choose their peer contexts based, in part, on the feelings they have about their experiences in the parent context. The chapter concludes by recommending that research on adolescents' relationships with parents and peers become more integrative, bi‐directional, and developmental, even if these features make research more difficult.

When epidemiological studies of the impact of smoking in pregnancy use retrospective methods, misclassification may not be a significant problem if prenatal smoking is assessed in terms of the pattern across pregnancy. This type of interview-based recall of pregnancy smoking may be relatively accurate, although optimal measurement should combine retrospective and prospective self-report and biological assays, as each provide unique information and sources of error.