Abstract
This study examined parenting as a function of child medical risks at birth and parental genotype (dopamine D4 receptor; DRD4). Our hypothesis was that the relation between child risks and later maternal sensitivity would depend on the presence/absence of a genetic variant in the mothers, thus revealing a gene by environment interaction (GXE). Risk at birth was defined by combining risk indices of children's gestational age at birth, birth weight, and admission to the neonatal intensive care unit. The DRD4-III 7-repeat allele was chosen as a relevant genotype as it was recently shown to moderate the effect of environmental stress on parental sensitivity. Mothers of 104 twin pairs provided DNA samples and were observed with their children in a laboratory play session when the children were 3.5 years old. Results indicate that higher levels of risk at birth were associated with less sensitive parenting only among mothers carrying the 7-repeat allele, but not among mothers carrying shorter alleles. Moreover, mothers who are carriers of the 7-repeat allele and whose children scored low on the risk index were observed to have the highest levels of sensitivity. These findings provide evidence for the interactive effects of genes and environment (in this study, children born at higher risk) on parenting, and are consistent with a genetic differential susceptibility model of parenting by demonstrating that some parents are inherently more susceptible to environmental influences, both good and bad, than are others.
Highlights
A great deal of research has substantiated the critical role of parenting in children’s development and functioning early on as well as later in life
Specific to the present investigation, we focus on findings involving a polymorphism of the dopamine D4 receptor gene, the DRD4-III 48 bp repeat, which has two to eleven repeats (4 and 7 being the most common in Caucasian samples; [40])
We examined the bivariate correlations between risk at birth and mothers’ parenting in the presence and absence of the mothers’ DRD4-III 7-repeat allele (DRD4-7R) allele (Table 2)
Summary
A great deal of research has substantiated the critical role of parenting in children’s development and functioning early on as well as later in life. Parental quality of care (e.g., maternal sensitivity) is predictive of a variety of child outcomes, such as attachment security [1,2], social understanding and behavior [3], and relationship quality (e.g., with siblings [4]). Parenting is a dynamic process in which the various influences constantly interact to shape moment-to-moment parent-child interactions. Identification of such factors and processes is imperative in explaining the variability in parenting behavior across individuals and contexts. In this study we integrate a focus on the effects of both child-related risk and parents’ genotype on parenting as to identify transactional processes taking place between parents’ genetic tendencies and the challenges they face when it comes to parents’ abilities to respond sensitively to their children
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