"The developmental interference between nature and nurture: A mutual influence model of child antisocial behavior and parent behaviors": Erratum.

Reports an error in the original article by X. Ge et al (Developmental Psychology, 1996 [Jul], Vol 32[4], 574–589). On page 584, Figure 2, negative signs were mistakenly inserted in front of 2 coefficients. The correct coefficients are given. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1996-01781-002.). Using an adoption design to collect data on biological and adoptive parents of children adopted at birth, this study explored a possible mechanism through which heritable characteristics of adopted children evoke adoptive parent responses and lead to reciprocal influences between adoptive parent and adopted child behavior. Participants were 25 male and 20 female adoptees, 12–18 years of age, having either a biological parent with substance abuse/dependency or antisocial personality or a biological parent with no such history. The study found that psychiatric disorders of biological parents were significantly related to children's antisocial/hostile behaviors and that biological parents' psychiatric disorders were associated with adoptive parents' behaviors. This genotype-environment association was largely mediated by adoptees' antisocial/hostile behaviors. Results also suggest that the adoptee's antisocial/hostile behavior and adoptive… (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Genotype–environment correlations in late childhood and early adolescence: Antisocial behavioral problems and coercive parenting.

Akey question for understanding the interplay between nature and nurture in development is the direction of effects in socialization. As part of the Colorado Adoption Project, adopted children were classified as being at genetic risk (N?=?38) or not at genetic risk (N?=?50) for antisocial behavior based on their biological mothers self-report history of antisocial behavior collected prior to the birth of the child. From age 7 through age 12, adoptive parents reported on the negative control, positive parenting, and inconsistent parenting they use in managing their child's behavior. Repeated measures analysis of variance indicated that children at genetic risk were consistently more likely to receive negative parenting from their adoptive parents than children not at genetic risk, indicating an evocative genotype-environment correlation. However, the findings also showed that most of the association between negative parenting and children's externalizing behavior was not explicable on the basis of at evocative gene-environment correlation and that an additional environmentally mediated parental effect on children's behavior was plausible. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral and emotional problems among Italian international adoptees and non-adopted children: Father's and mother's reports.

This study intends to fill the gap in empirical research carried out in Italy regarding international adoptees' behavioral and emotional problems. Assuming a multi-informant approach, it aims to compare parents' reports of behavioral problems of adopted and non-adopted children and to examine parental agreement. The sample was composed of 186 adoptive couples and 195 biological couples with the target child between ages 7 and 11 years. The mother and father filled in the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) separately. Analysis of the CBCL revealed that adopted children are perceived by their parents as having more Total and Externalizing Problems than are their non-adopted counterparts. Moreover, they are more likely to demonstrate attention difficulties and aggressive behavior. The agreement between parents turned out to be moderate for adoptive parents and slightly lower for the biological ones. Consistent with most adoption research, the results confirm the higher risk of behavioral problems among adopted children. They also shed light on the significant perceptual discrepancy between mothers and fathers, underlining the importance of considering both parents' reports in the study of adopted children's adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Are associations between parental divorce and children's adjustment genetically mediated? An adoption study.

The hypothesis that the association between parental divorce and children's adjustment is mediated by genetic factors was examined in the Colorado Adoption Project, a prospective longitudinal study of 398 adoptive and biological families. In biological families, children who experienced their parents' separation by the age of 12 years exhibited higher rates of behavioral problems and substance use, and lower levels of achievement and social adjustment, compared with children whose parents' marriages remained intact. Similarly, adopted children who experienced their (adoptive) parents' divorces exhibited elevated levels of behavioral problems and substance use compared with adoptees whose parents did not separate, but there were no differences on achievement and social competence. The findings for psychopathology are consistent with an environmentally mediated explanation for the association between parent divorce and children's adjustment; in contrast, the findings for achievement and social adjustment are consistent with a genetically mediated explanation involving passive genotype–environment correlation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Genotype-environment correlations in late childhood and early adolescence: antisocial behavioral problems and coercive parenting

A key question for understanding the interplay between nature and nurture in development is the direction of effects in socialization. A longitudinal adoption design provides a unique opportunity to investigate this issue in terms of genotype-environment correlations for behavioral problems. As part of the Colorado Adoption Project, adopted children were classified as being at genetic risk (N = 38) or not at genetic risk (N = 50) for antisocial behavior based on their biological mothers' self-report history of antisocial behavior collected prior to the birth of the child. From age 7 through age 12, adoptive parents reported on the negative control, positive parenting, and inconsistent parenting they use in managing their child's behavior. Repeated measures analysis of variance indicated that children at genetic risk were consistently more likely to receive negative parenting from their adoptive parents than children not at genetic risk, indicating an evocative genotype-environment correlation. However, the findings also showed that most of the association between negative parenting and children's externalizing behavior was not explicable on the basis of an evocative gene-environment correlation and that an additional environmentally mediated parental effect on children's behavior was plausible.     

Schizophrenia: Effects of inheritance and rearing on reaction time.

Studied both manual and verbal reaction time in 4 selected groups of adult Ss (N = 258) in an attempt to uncover hereditary and environmental influences on the reaction time of Ss whose parents do or do not have schizophrenic disorders. The groups included (a) adoptive offspring of schizophrenic parents (adoptive index); (b) adoptive offspring of nonschizophrenic parents, but whose adoptive parents had a psychiatric record of schizophrenic disorder (cross-foster); (c) adoptive offspring of nonschizophrenic parents (adoptive control); and (d) offspring of schizophrenic parents who were reared by their biological parents (nonadoptees). Analysis of variance was used to assess the effects of rearing by a schizophrenic parent, a genetic background for schizophrenia, and interaction between rearing and genetic background. Groups opposed for genetic background for schizophrenia were not different in reaction time performance, while groups opposed for rearing by a schizophrenic parent were significantly so. Mean reaction time was slower in groups reared by a schizophrenic parent than in those reared by a nonschizophrenic parent. There was no significant interaction between rearing and genetic background for reaction time performance. (French summary) (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The interaction of parent and child gender in physical child maltreatment.

Assessed cross-generational patterns of physical child maltreatment taking the gender of both parents and child into consideration, and the experience of shame regarding one's own physically abusive behaviors. 1536 parents (mean age 47 yrs) and their 983 children (mean age 18 yrs) were administered the Conflict Tactics Scale (M. A. Straus, 1989) along with other questionnaires to gather information on aggressive behavior, shame experienced in abusing their children and demographic data. The parents were categorized as physically abusive or nonabusive if both parent and child ratings of the parents' behavior were in agreement. Results show that parents received more physical child maltreatment from their own same gender parent than from opposite gender parents. Among the abusive parents, the more maltreatment they received as children by the same gender parent, the less shame they felt for using such punishment on their own children. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Do as I say, not as I do": Family influences on children's safety and risk behaviors.

Objective: Although there is considerable speculation that family-based socialization processes influence children's safety and risk behaviors, few studies have addressed this important issue. The present study compared the impact of parent practices and teaching about safety on children's current behaviors and their intended future behaviors when they reach adulthood. Design and Measures: Children 7 to 12 years of age were interviewed and asked to report on their parents' practices and teachings (discussions, expectations for children's behavior) regarding five common safety behaviors. As well, the children reported on their own current practices and how they intended to behave when an adult. When appropriate, they provided explanations about why their parents engage in fewer safety behaviors than they required of their children. Results: Children's current behavior was best predicted by parental teaching, however, how children planned to behave when they were adults was best predicted by parents' practices. Children attributed less frequent safety behaviors by their parents than themselves to general attributes of adults and their parent having special skills that made the safety practices less necessary than was true for children. Conclusion: These results highlight family influences on children's adoption of safety and risk practices and support the notion of intergenerational transmission of risk behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Studies of adoptees from psychiatrically disturbed biological parents. III. Medical symptoms and illnesses in childhood and adolescence

Analysis of data gathered from interviews with adoptive parents supports the hypothesis that female adoptees of antisocial biological backgrounds might have higher percentages of somatic symptoms. The authors compared female adoptees of antisocial parentage with male and female controls, male adoptees of antisocial parentage, and male and female adoptees whose biological parents had other psychiatric conditions. They stress the importance of this hypothesis in the diagnosis and management of childhood and adolescent "medical" and behavioral problems.     

Nurse coaching and cartoon distraction: an effective and practical intervention to reduce child, parent, and nurse distress during immunizations

Evaluated a low cost and practical intervention designed to decrease children's, parents', and nurses' distress during children's immunizations. The intervention consisted of children viewing a popular cartoon movie and being coached by nurses and parents to attend to the movie. Ninety-two children, 4-6 years of age, and their parents were alternatively assigned to either a nurse coach intervention, a nurse coach plus train parent and child intervention, or a standard medical care condition. Based on previous findings of generalization of adult behaviors during medical procedures, it was hypothesized that training only the nurses to coach the children would cost-effectively reduce all participants levels of distress. Observational measures and subjective ratings were used to assess the following dependent variables: children's coping, distress, pain, and need for restraint; nurses' and parents' coaching behavior; and parents' and nurses' distress. Results indicate that, in the two intervention conditions, children coped more and were less distressed, nurses and parents exhibited more coping promoting behavior and less distress promoting behavior, and parents and nurses were less distressed than in the control condition. Although neither intervention was superior on any of the variables assessed in the study, nurse coach was markedly more practical and cost-effective. Therefore, nurses' coaching of children to watch cartoon movies has great potential for dissemination in pediatric settings.     

Developmental changes in conformity to peers and parents.

Investigated developmental changes in conformity to parents and peers and relations between parent and peer conformity. In Study 1, 251 children in the 3rd, 6th, 9th, 11th, or 12th grade responded to hypothetical situations in which peers urged the child to perform either antisocial, prosocial, or neutral behaviors. For all types of behavior, the age trends for conformity were curvilinear, and peer conformity peaked in the 6th or 9th grade. In Study 2, 273 children in the 3rd, 6th, 9th, 11th, or 12th grades responded to situations testing conformity to peers on antisocial and prosocial behavior and conformity to parents on prosocial and neutral behavior. For antisocial behavior, a peak in peer conformity was found at the 9th grade. Significant age changes were not found for prosocial behavior. Conformity to parents on both types of behavior decreased steadily with age. With some but not all measures, conformity to parents and conformity to peers were negatively correlated. In addition, the relations between parents and peer conformity changed with age. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Longitudinal pathways from marital hostility to child anger during toddlerhood: Genetic susceptibility and indirect effects via harsh parenting.

We examined direct and indirect pathways from marital hostility to toddler anger/frustration via harsh parenting and parental depressive symptoms, with an additional focus on the moderating role of genetic influences as inferred from birth parent anger/frustration. Participants were 361 linked triads of birth mothers, adoptive parents, and adopted children who were 9 (T1) and 18 (T2) months old across the study period. Results indicated an indirect effect from T1 marital hostility to T2 toddler anger/frustration via T2 parental harsh discipline. Results also indicated that the association between marital hostility and toddler anger was moderated by birth mother anger/frustration. For children whose birth mothers reported high levels of anger/frustration, adoptive parents' marital hostility at T1 predicted toddler anger/frustration at T2. This relation did not hold for children whose birth mothers reported low levels of anger/frustration. The results suggest that children whose birth mothers report elevated frustration might inherit an emotional lability that makes them more sensitive to the effects of marital hostility. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distribution and synthesis of type VII collagen in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Modern reproductive techniques and alternative family structures (with single or homosexual parents and adoption situations) raise questions about the consequences for the growing children involved. Genetic links appear to be less important for the functioning of a family than a strong wish for parenthood; parents who have become parents only through great efforts display a better quality of parenthood than average natural parents. Characteristics of the parent/parents, such as paedagogic qualities, and the quality of the parent-child relationship appear more important than the type of family. Published results of research reveal no reason why lesbian families should be judged differently from heterosexual ones as family types for the raising of children. The main negative factor for the functioning of the child growing up in a single-parent family is the marriage conflicts that have led to the single-parent situation; being raised by a single parent in itself has no adverse effect. Raising adopted children from other countries makes far greater demands on the adoptive parents than parents of biological children have to meet. The raising of a foreign adopted child by a single parent entails additional risks for the child's development. Data on the development of children in alternative family structures frequently concern exceptionally competent parents, which may have biased the findings.     

The adopted child's IQ: A critical review.

Summarizes all reliable published data about the nature and nurture of adopted children's IQs, and draws conclusions about the relative importance of heredity and environment on children's mental development. Any study that compares the central tendency of adopted children's IQs with a group mean of 100 IQ points for a normal population cannot be taken seriously until several methodological criteria have been met: (a) representative sampling, (b) no differential loss of Ss over time, (c) accurate, age-corrected information on biological and adoptive parents, (d) careful attention to early separation and placement of children, and (e) elimination of practice effects and regression to the mean artifacts. Analysis of the resemblance between individual adopted children's IQ scores and their adoptive and biological parents' mental abilities shows that the adoptive parents' home environment has only a modest effect on their adopted children's intellectual growth, while heredity and environment of the biological parents have a strong effect on their own children's intellectual growth. At present there is disagreement about the precise values of genetic and environmental effects on IQ, and several assumptions must be made before accurate statistics can be derived. But, the available data strongly suggest that under existing circumstances, heredity is much more important than environment in producing individual differences in IQ. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distinct contributions of conduct and oppositional defiant symptoms to adult antisocial behavior: evidence from an adoption study

BACKGROUND: We conducted an exploratory multivariate analysis of juvenile behavior symptoms in an adoption data set. One goal was to see if a few DSM-interpretable symptom dimensions economically captured information within the data. A second goal was to study the relationships between any such dimensions, biological and environmental background, and eventual adult antisocial behavior. METHODS: The data originated from a retrospective adoption study. Probands with a biological background for parental antisocial personality or alcoholism were heavily oversampled. Symptoms were ascertained by proband and adoptive parent interview. We performed, by gender, orthogonal rotated principal component analyses of juvenile behavior disturbance symptoms (females, n = 87; males, n = 88). We used structural equation modeling to examine the relationships hypothesized above. RESULTS: For both genders, an oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) component and at least 1 conduct component emerged. Regardless of the conduct component scores, the ODD components were significant predictors of adult antisocial behavior. For males, the ODD component was predicted by an antisocial biological background, but not by scores on the Adverse Adoptive Environment Scale. The conduct components were predicted by adoptive environment alone. For females, biological background or biological-environmental interactions predicted each of the components. CONCLUSIONS: There has been little previous distinction between conduct disorder and ODD in studies of genetic and environmental influences on juvenile behavior. The study suggests that adolescent ODD symptoms may be a distinct antecedent of adult antisocial personality. In males, adolescent ODD symptoms may represent early expression of genetic sociopathic personality traits.     

Relationships of parents' perceived actions toward their children

Research has generally supported the view that parents' attitudes and practices predispose children to act in certain ways. Bell (1968), however, proposed an alternate theory which suggested that children and adolescents often mold the way their parents act. Parish (1980) subsequently reported support for Bell's position in that parents were, indeed, found to parent like one another, possibly in response to their children's actions. The present study sought to further examine the Bell (1968) theory by seeking to determine if parents are consistent with each other or with themselves in their parenting attitudes and practices. Parents were perceived to act like one another (at least to a moderately significant degree), but fathers were much more likely to parent in particular ways (i.e., if they were restrictive they were also more likely to be warm, or if they were permissive they were also more likely to be hostile), independent of how their wives were perceived to act. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

A three year follow-up of attachment and indiscriminate friendliness in children adopted from Romanian orphanages

Attachment and indiscriminately friendly behavior were assessed in children who had spent at least 8 months in a Romanian orphanage (RO) and two comparison groups of children: a Canadian-born, nonadopted, never institutionalized comparison group (CB) and an early adopted comparison group adopted from Romania before the age of 4 months (EA). Attachment was assessed using 2 measures: an attachment security questionnaire based on parent report, and a Separation Reunion procedure that was coded using the Preschool Assessment of Attachment. Indiscriminately friendly behavior was examined using parents' responses to 5 questions about their children's behavior with new adults. Although RO children did not score differently from either CB or EA children on the attachment security measure based on parent report, they did display significantly more insecure attachment patterns than did children in the other 2 groups. In addition, RO children displayed significantly more indiscriminately friendly behavior than both CB and EA children, who did not differ in terms of indiscriminate friendliness. RO children's insecure attachment patterns were not associated with any aspect of their institutional environment, but were related to particular child and family characteristics. Specifically, insecure RO children had more behavior problems, scored lower on the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, and had parents who reported significantly more parenting stress than RO children classified as secure.     

Treatment of parental stress to enhance therapeutic change among children referred for aggressive and antisocial behavior.

This study evaluated a parent problem-solving (PPS) intervention designed to augment the effects of evidence-based therapy for children referred to treatment for aggressive and antisocial behavior. All children (N=127, ages 6-14 years) and their families received problem-solving skills training (PSST), and parents received parent management training (PMT). Families were randomly assigned to receive or not to receive an additional component (PPS) that addressed parental stress over the course of treatment. Children improved with treatment; the PPS intervention enhanced therapeutic change for children and parents and reduced the barriers that parents experienced during treatment. The implications of the findings for improving evidence-based treatment as well as the limitations of adding components to treatment are detailed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)