Department of Human Development and Family Studies, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA,
J Youth Adolesc. 2015 Mar;44(3):581-97. doi: 10.1007/s10964-014-0198-4. Epub 2014 Oct 16.
Aggression-related problems such as assault and homicide among adolescents and young adults exact considerable social and economic costs. Although progress has been made, additional research is needed to help combat this persistent problem. Several lines of research indicate that parental hostility is an especially potent predictor of adolescent aggression, although most longitudinal research has focused on clarifying the direction of effects. In this study, we used longitudinal data from the PROSPER project (N = 580; 54.8% female), a primarily rural Caucasian preventative intervention sample, to examine developmental change in early- to mid-adolescent aggressive behavior problems (age 11-16 years). In addition, we examined maternal hostility as a predictor of developmental change in aggression and the PROSPER preventative intervention, designed to reduce substance use and aggression, as a potential influence on this association. Lastly, several studies indicate that variation in the DRD4 7-repeat gene moderates both parenting and intervention influences on externalizing behavior. Accordingly, we examined the potential moderating role of DRD4. As hypothesized, there was a significant maternal hostility by intervention interaction indicating that the intervention reduced the negative impact of maternal hostility on adolescent change in aggressive behavior problems. DRD4 7-repeat status (7+ vs. 7-) further conditioned this association whereby control group 7+ adolescents with hostile mothers showed increasing aggressive behavior problems. In contrast, aggression decreased for 7+ adolescents with similarly hostile mothers in the intervention. Implications for prevention are discussed as well as current perspectives in candidate gene-by-environment interaction research.
青少年和年轻成年人的攻击相关问题，如攻击和杀人，给社会和经济造成了相当大的代价。尽管已经取得了一些进展，但仍需要进一步的研究来帮助解决这个长期存在的问题。几条研究线索表明，父母的敌意是青少年攻击行为的一个特别有力的预测因素，尽管大多数纵向研究都集中在澄清影响的方向上。在这项研究中，我们使用了 PROSPER 项目（N=580；54.8%为女性）的纵向数据，该项目是一个主要由农村白种人组成的预防性干预样本，来研究青少年早期到中期攻击行为问题（年龄 11-16 岁）的发展变化。此外，我们还研究了母亲敌意作为攻击性发展变化的预测因素，以及 PROSPER 预防性干预措施，该措施旨在减少物质使用和攻击行为，这可能会对这种关联产生影响。最后，有几项研究表明，DRD4 7 重复基因的变异同时调节了父母教养和干预对外部行为的影响。因此，我们研究了 DRD4 的潜在调节作用。正如假设的那样，存在一个显著的母亲敌意与干预的相互作用，表明干预减少了母亲敌意对青少年攻击性行为问题变化的负面影响。DRD4 7 重复状态（7+与 7-）进一步调节了这种关联，即对照组中具有敌对母亲的 7+青少年表现出攻击性行为问题的增加。相比之下，在干预组中，具有同样敌对母亲的 7+青少年的攻击性则有所下降。讨论了预防的意义，以及候选基因-环境相互作用研究的当前观点。
