Zimmermann Peter, Spangler Gottfried
Institute of Psychology, Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany.
Institute of Psychology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2022 Apr 14;16:839340. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.839340. eCollection 2022.
Most studies examining gene-environment effects on self-regulation focus on outcomes early childhood or adulthood. However, only a few studies investigate longitudinal effects during middle childhood and adolescence and compare two domains of early caregiving. In a longitudinal follow-up with a sample of = 87, we studied the effects of differences in the DRD4 tandem repeat polymorphisms and two domains of early maternal caregiving quality on children's personality development using Block's California Child Q-Set (CCQ) at age six and age 12 and on problem behavior at ages six and seven. Early maternal regulation quality predicted later ego-resiliency and aggressiveness. In addition, significant gene-environment interactions revealed that children with the 7+ DRD4 tandem repeat polymorphism and poor maternal regulation quality in infancy showed lower scores in ego-resiliency and higher scores in ego-undercontrol and CCQ aggressiveness. In contrast, children who had experienced effective maternal regulation in infancy showed a comparable level in personality traits and problem behavior as the DRD4 7- group independent of the levels of maternal regulatory behavior. Similarly, longitudinal caregiving × DRD4 interactions were found for behavior problems in middle childhood, especially for oppositional-aggression, inattentive-hyperactivity, and social competence. Early caregiving effects were only found for maternal regulation quality, but not for maternal responsiveness. Effective early maternal regulation in infancy can moderate the negative effect of DRD4 7+ on children's self-regulation in middle childhood and adolescence. However, maternal responsiveness has no comparable effects. It seems relevant to consider several dimensions of early caregiving and to also measure the environment in more detail in gene-environment studies.
大多数研究基因-环境对自我调节影响的研究都集中在幼儿期或成年期的结果上。然而，只有少数研究调查了童年中期和青少年期的纵向影响，并比较了早期养育的两个领域。在一项对87名样本的纵向随访中，我们使用布洛克的《加州儿童Q分类表》（CCQ）研究了DRD4串联重复多态性的差异以及早期母亲养育质量的两个领域对儿童6岁和12岁时人格发展以及6岁和7岁时问题行为的影响。早期母亲的调节质量预测了后期的自我恢复力和攻击性。此外，显著的基因-环境相互作用表明，携带7+ DRD4串联重复多态性且婴儿期母亲调节质量差的儿童在自我恢复力方面得分较低，在自我控制不足和CCQ攻击性方面得分较高。相比之下，在婴儿期经历过有效母亲调节的儿童在人格特质和问题行为方面的水平与DRD4 7-组相当，与母亲调节行为的水平无关。同样，在童年中期的行为问题上发现了纵向养育×DRD4的相互作用，尤其是在对立-攻击、注意力不集中-多动和社交能力方面。早期养育的影响仅在母亲调节质量方面被发现，而在母亲反应性方面未被发现。婴儿期有效的早期母亲调节可以减轻DRD4 7+对儿童童年中期和青少年期自我调节的负面影响。然而，母亲反应性没有类似的影响。在基因-环境研究中，考虑早期养育的几个维度并更详细地测量环境似乎是相关的。
