Overview of Behavioral Genetics Research for Family Researchers

Abstract

This article provides an overview of the methods, assumptions, and key findings of behavioral genetics methodology for family researchers with a limited background. We discuss how family researchers can utilize and contribute to the behavioral genetics field, particularly in terms of conducting research that seeks to explain shared environmental effects. This can be done, in part, by theoretically controlling for genetic confounds in research that seeks to determine cause-and-effect relationships among family variables and individual outcomes. Gene–environment correlation and interaction are especially promising areas for the family researcher to address. Given the methodological advancements in the field, we also briefly comment on new methods in molecular genetics for studying psychological mental health disorders.

Parent involvement, sibling companionship, and adolescent substance use: A longitudinal, genetically informed design.

“…are assumed to contribute equally to the similarity of both types of sibling pairs evaluated in this study (e.g., biologically related and unrelated pairs). Nonshared environmental influence (E) refers to the effect of those environmental factors siblings do not share (e.g., the peer group), and also measurement error (for a detailed review of behavior genetics methods designed for the family scholar, see Samek, Koh, & Rueter, 2013). …”

Genetic methods in psychology.

“…With the advent of advanced statistical modeling software such as Mplus and OpenMx (Muthén & Muthén, 2017;Neale et al, 2016), quantitative genetic paradigms also can answer much more sophisticated questions in psychological research, including hypotheses about mediators and moderators of genetic influences on psychological phenotypes. The interested reader is referred to Samek et al (2013) for a thorough description of behavioral genetic research methodology.…”

Untitled

“…Blant annet kan utviklingspsykologer bli flinkere til å bruke atferdsgenetiske metoder for å kontrollere bort effekten av genetikk i familiestudier. På den måten kan vi isolere effekten av foreldres innflytelse på barns utvikling (Samek et al, 2013). Dette er vi nå i gang med i Foreldrepraksis i Norge-studien ved Universitetet i Oslo.…”