瑞典的双生子与子代研究： 通过双生子及其家庭来增加对遗传与环境互动的了解

双生子及子代研究（TOSS）收集了909对双生子及他（她）们的配偶和他（她）们的青少年子女的数据。设计该项目是为研究以下三个问题：1）遗传与环境是如何影响双生子父母的养育方式的？2）遗传与环境是如何影响成年人的家庭关系的？3）家庭关系是如何影响成年人的心理调适的？由于此研究包括了双生子及其子女,该设计可以与其他研究相比较来具体地分析遗传与环境的关联。此研究的结果有助于厘清遗传与环境在养育方式和家庭关系中的型态,同时也澄清了父母亲个人特征是如何影响他（她）们的养育方式,以及父母的个体特征是如何帮助解释了遗传对家庭关系的影响。此研究今后将进一步分析遗传与环境的关联与互动,以及候选基因与环境的关联与互动     

分离遗传与环境对儿童发展的影响：介绍一个新颖的研究方法

本文介绍一个可以用于研究遗传与环境互动的新颖方法。此研究收集了上千个4~10岁儿童的数据。这些儿童的出生都借助于不同的辅助受孕技术（Assisted Reproductive Technologies）,包括试管婴儿、精子捐赠、卵子捐赠、胚胎捐赠及代孕技术。本项目通过妇科（助孕）医院收集被试的行为数据,包括家庭互动、养育方式、父母婚姻质量、家庭成员的心理健康及经济状况等。本文选择性地介绍一些分析的结果,以彰显这种设计在分离遗传和产前产后环境对儿童发展的贡献。首先,我们比较了“助孕”儿童与“自然孕”儿童在父母冲突、父母对子女敌意以及儿童抑郁症状之间关系的异同。其次,我们比较了这两组儿童在父母抑郁症状、家庭关系质量以及儿童抑郁症状之间关系的异同。再次,本文介绍了这一可分离遗传与环境因素的研究设计。最后,我们讨论了这一设计对发展心理病干预及预防的意义     

早期成长与发展研究：利用前瞻性的养子女设计研究遗传与环境的互动

“早期成长与发展研究”（EGDS）是一个前瞻性的养子女研究计划。此项目包括了360组相连的生身父母、养父母以及刚出生就被收养的子女。此项目从婴儿3个月就开始跟踪这些被试,现在又加上200组被试,从遗传与环境的关联与互动着手,本项目将研究家庭环境和养育方式如何影响遗传因素的表达。所有被试均需要是在美国国内收养的婴儿。该研究收集了儿童的心理特征、生身父母与养父母的心理特征、养育方式、父母的生活状况等数据,以及唾液和DNA,初步分析发现,遗传与环境的互动在婴儿期就已经开始。本文也从干预的角度讨论了未来行为遗传学的走向     

行为遗传学的终结？

虽然遗传研究在20世纪初期的心理学里呈上升趋势,早期行为遗传学与优生学的襟带关系使这个学科蒙上阴影。20世纪下半叶的双生子和养子女的研究重新树立了该学科的威信,并为现今的遗传与环境互动的研究奠定了基础。本文以发展行为遗传学、遗传环境互动以及用行为遗传学来验证因果关系的研究为例,来突显这一学科对心理学的贡献。今后遗传与环境互动的研究将更侧重于辨识“候选基因”的技术。“全基因组关联”的研究为未来行为遗传学的发展提供了一个乐观的前景     

青少年抑郁情绪的行为遗传学研究

本研究意在探讨青少年抑郁情绪遗传率的性别和年龄差异及遗传和环境对抑郁情绪跨时间连续性的影响。508对同卵双生子, 176对同性别异卵双生子参加了两轮追踪研究, 时间间隔约为一年半(1.37±0.44)。第一轮测量双生子的年龄范围为10~18岁, 平均年龄为13.69±2.04岁, 男生比例为46.2%。采用儿童抑郁量表(CDI)对青少年的抑郁情绪进行多报告者评定。结果发现, 青少年抑郁情绪的遗传解释率不存在性别差异, 处于青春早期青少年的遗传解释率高于青春中期的青少年。遗传是影响青春早期青少年抑郁情绪持续发生的主导因素, 而环境是影响青春中期青少年抑郁情绪持续发生的主要因素。     

母亲依恋、父母监控与青少年的吸烟、饮酒行为

本研究从社会联结理论出发,旨在探讨母亲依恋和父母监控与青少年吸烟、饮酒行为的关系.被试选自北京地区普通学校六年级、初二和高一学生1040人.结果发现,母亲依恋及父母监控与青少年的吸烟、饮酒行为存在着明显的负线性关系.母亲是否吸烟或饮酒对母亲依恋与青少年吸烟、饮酒行为间的关系无明显影响.     

多动症的遗传学研究概述

多动症多始于儿童期,并能持续至成年期。传统的家庭、双生子和养子女研究表明,多动症是受遗传影响的。双生子研究现在被用来定义多动症表型,分析性别差异,测试基因对持续性和共病的影响,以及研究遗传与环境的互动。多动症的分子遗传学研究集中在功能候选基因的关联分析上。多动症与DRD4和DRD5的关系比较一致。最新的研究也显示COMT的影响。关联分析（linkage analysis）显示这些单个基因的影响都不大。这个领域还有待于大规模的“全基因关联”分析。至今为止的证据显示,研究基因-表型关联以及基因与环境互动对多动症的影响将日趋重要     

友伴对青少年吸烟和饮酒行为的影响

本研究从北京市几所中小学选取小六、初二和高一学生1040名来探讨友伴对青少年吸烟饮酒行为的影响。研究采用无记名问卷测查的形式,先让被试提名一个最要好友伴和九个一般友伴,再回答自己曾经是否吸烟饮酒和吸烟饮酒的程度。分析时,只对在被试范围内的友伴进行统计。结果发现,无论男女和年级,被提名的友伴中,吸烟饮酒的友伴人数有较大差别;男生友伴中吸烟饮酒的友伴明显超过女生;高年级学生友伴中吸烟饮酒的友伴明显多于低年级学生;友伴的吸烟饮酒行为和吸烟饮酒程度对青少年的吸烟饮酒行为有明显影响;友伴中吸烟饮酒的人数多少也与青少年吸烟饮酒行为有直接的关系;但单双向友伴关系对青少年的吸烟饮酒行为无明显影响。     

干预训练对儿童掌握遗传知识的作用

引入干预训练法探讨儿童的遗传概念的发展开辟了儿童朴素生物学认知领域研究的新方向。文章从干预内容（关于遗传的事实性知识与概念重组）和形式（讲授与同伴互动）两个方面报告了近些年有关干预训练影响儿童对遗传知识掌握的研究进展,并从不同干预内容和形式以及被试年龄选取的适当性三个方面,深入分析了以往各种干预方法效果差异的原因,最后提出未来的研究应致力于改进干预训练内容、探索儿童遗传概念获得的最佳时期和发展的快速期,强化儿童遗传认知的研究与幼儿生物科学启蒙教育之间的联系     

青少年的吸烟饮酒行为与人格特征的关系

本研究以北京地区普通中小学1040名学生为被试,探讨人格特征与青少年吸烟和饮酒行为的关系。结果发现,吸烟与不吸烟、饮酒与不饮酒青少年之间在反抗性、感觉寻求、冲动性、内外控,以及道德感等5项人格特征方面存在显着差异,这种差异因性别、年级的不同而有所不同。在5项人格特征中,感觉寻求对青少年吸烟及饮酒行为的影响作用最大。结果说明人格特征在青少年吸烟及饮酒行为形成和发展中的重要性。     

Sexual behavior in young adulthood: a population-based twin study.

OBJECTIVE: With behavior genetic analyses of data from young adult twins, we evaluated theoretical perspectives that differentially emphasize biological dispositions, social/cultural factors, or universal pathways to explain individual differences in sexual behaviors. DESIGN: We fit biometric sex limitation models to three aspects of sexual behavior reported by 4,925 Finnish twins ages 23-27. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: From a postal questionnaire, we obtained self-report information on initiation/abstinence of sexual intercourse, onset age, and number of sexual partners. RESULTS: Genetic and non-shared environmental influences were significant for all three measures. There were trends for common environmental influences on initiation and, in females, age at first intercourse. Some differential effects in males and females were found. Results comparing onset age and number of partners among experienced twins from pairs concordant and discordant for initiation found genetic and environmental influences on initiation/abstinence overlapped those found for the other aspects of sexual behavior. CONCLUSIONS: These results document genetic variation in individual differences in sexual behavior of young adults. Incorporating genetic dispositions into integrated models of sexual behavior will facilitate more effective health promotion and risk taking intervention.     

Sources of exposure to smoking and drinking friends among adolescents: a behavioral-genetic evaluation

Substance-using friends expose adolescents to models of, and opportunities for, substance use that may lead to its initiation or reinforce existing use. Using genetically informative data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (P. S. Bearman, J. Jones, & J. R. Udry, 1998), the authors examined whether adolescents' exposure to friends' tobacco smoking and alcohol drinking was better explained by family-social or genetic influences. To conduct analyses, the authors constructed substance use exposure scores for adolescent siblings from the responses of siblings' nominated friends to self-reported smoking and drinking items. Using behavioral-genetic analyses of these substance use exposure scores, the authors estimated that 64% of the variance in adolescents' exposure to friends who smoke and drink could be explained by genetic influences, whereas shared environmental influences were zero. These results provide evidence of active, evocative, or both types of gene-environment correlations. Genetic factors can influence the formation of friendships with substance-using peers, thereby contributing to adolescents' exposure to substance use behaviors.     

Conceptions of criminal and delinquent acts

We estimate a series of multivariate logistic regression models specifying the effects of gender and other variables on the initiation and escalation of alcohol and other substance use/abuse in a sample of young adults from a general population. After controlling for race, ethnicity, father's education, and a tendency to over‐ or underendorse statements, effects of gender on circumstances surrounding initiation/escalation of binge drinking, marijuana use, and use of other illicit drugs were observed to be congruent with the literature on gender‐related sociodevelopmental processes and empirical studies of the circumstances surrounding substance use. Among substance users/abusers, gender was implicated in self‐reports of the relevance of peer influence, needs to enhance self‐importance and a sense of power, conflictive consequences, sensation‐seeking, and reduction of distress in the processes surrounding initiation and escalation of use.     

How intelligence and education contribute to substance use: Hints from the Minnesota Twin family study

In old and even middle age, there are associations between physical health and both intelligence and education. This may occur because intelligence and/or education exert effects on lifestyle choices that, in turn, affect later health. Substance use is one aspect of lifestyle choice in young adulthood that could play such a role. The effects of intelligence and/or education on substance use could be direct and environmental, or indirect due to the presence of confounding genetic and shared family influences. We used the Minnesota Twin Family Study to distinguish these effects in males and females at age 24. In contrast to prevailing expectations, there were moderately negative direct nonshared environmental effects of both IQ and education on both smoking and drinking in both males and females. That is, controlling for family background effects in the form of both genetic and shared environmental influences, both higher IQ and greater education were associated with greater alcohol and nicotine use. These effects were accounted for by alcohol and nicotine use at age 17. Our results suggest that genetic and family-culture variables confound the associations between intelligence and education and substance use in young adults, rendering them indirect. Further research is needed to understand the roles of IQ and education in alcohol and nicotine use and their relative impacts on physical health throughout the lifespan.     

Substance use in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: an update on empirical research and implications for treatment

Historically, substance use problems were thought to be more prevalent in lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) populations, and correcting skewed perceptions about substance abuse among LGB individuals is critically important. This review provides an update on empirical evidence on LGB substance use patterns and treatment outcome, with specific focus on clinical implications of findings. Compared to earlier studies, the recent research included in this review has used more sophisticated methodologies and more representative samples, and also has investigated multiple dimensions of sexual orientation in relation to substance use patterns. Findings from recent research suggest that lesbians and bisexual women are at greater risk for alcohol and drug use disorders and related problems, and that gay and bisexual men are at greater risk for illicit drug use and related problems. Several sociocultural factors have emerged as correlates of substance use patterns in LGB populations (e.g., affiliation with gay culture, HIV status), and several demographic characteristics (e.g., female, older age) do not appear to be as robust of protective factors against substance abuse for LGB individuals compared to heterosexual populations. Bisexual identity and/or behavior in particular seem to be related to increased risk for substance abuse. In terms of treatment outcome, limitations of extant research prevent conclusions about the relative impact of LGB-specific interventions, and further research that includes women and uses more equivalent comparison interventions is needed. Clinical implications of research findings are discussed for case identification, selection of treatment goals (e.g., moderation vs. abstinence), targets for intervention, and specific treatment modalities.     

Genetic and Environmental Effects on Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness: An Adoption/Twin Study

ABSTRACT Previous research has indicated that extraversion and neuroticism are substantially affected both by genotype and environment. This study assesses genetic and environmental influences on the other three components of the five-factor model of personality: Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. An abbreviated version of the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI) was administered to 82 pairs of identical twins and 171 pairs of fraternal twins reared apart and 132 pairs of identical twins and 167 pairs of fraternal twins reared together. Estimates of genetic and environmental effects for Openness and Conscientiousness were similar to those found in other studies of personality: Genetic influence was substantial and there was little evidence of shared rearing environment. Results for Agreeableness were different: Genetic influence accounted for only 12% of the variance and shared rearing environment accounted for 21% of the variance. Few significant gender or age differences for genetic and environmental parameters were found in model-fitting analyses.     

It does take a village: nonfamilial environments and children's behavior

Abstract - Family characteristics influence children's behavioral development, but so do variations in schools, neighborhoods, and communities. We documented extrafamilial environmental effects by fitting maximum likelihood models to questionnaire data collected from double dyads consisting of twins and their classmate controls. The classmate controls in each double dyad were genetic strangers living in separate households, but they shared school, neighborhood, and community environments with their yoked twin pair and with one another. At ages 11 to 12, the control classmates showed significant similarities in religious practices and smoking and drinking patterns, demonstrating that environmental influences outside the family affect children's behavioral development. Familial self-selection of residential neighborhoods may have contributed to these results, but direct effects of variation across communities, neighborhoods, and schools cannot be dismissed, and such effects warrant further study.     

Trajectories of aggression, delinquency, and substance use across middle school among urban, minority adolescents

This study evaluated bidirectional associations between substance use, aggression, and delinquency across sixth, seventh, and eighth grades using data available from a large study of urban minority youth (n = 2,931). Group-based trajectory analysis revealed trajectories of aggression, delinquency, and substance use which support the existence of both adolescent-limited and life-course persistent offenders. In addition, a pattern of decreasing aggression was observed during middle school. Clear temporal associations were observed between developmental changes in aggression, delinquency, and substance use. Notably, the decreasing aggression trajectory was as likely to be associated with high trajectories of substance initiation as was the high aggression trajectory. Furthermore, trajectories of delinquency were differentially associated with future substance use; however, substance use trajectories did not predict trajectories of delinquency. There were few gender differences in the developmental progression of these problem behaviors during middle school with only two exceptions, males were more likely to follow a trajectory of decreasing aggression and a trajectory of high stable delinquency. Evaluations of ethnic/racial differences in the trajectory group membership also revealed few differences. The results of this study provide important information regarding interconnections between developmental changes in problem behavior that occur during the middle school years, highlighting groups that may be missed via traditional analytic approaches that predict mean changes.     

Conjoint developmental trajectories of young adult alcohol and tobacco use

Developmental and etiological advances have set the stage for considering trajectories of problem behavior across the life course, but little work thus far addresses co-occurring problem behavior trajectories. Although recent work characterizes drinking and smoking trajectories, none has explored the course of concurrent drinking and smoking. Using panel data from the Monitoring the Future Project (N=32,087), the authors applied growth mixture modeling to 4 waves of heavy drinking and smoking in a young-adult sample. The authors extracted a single latent group membership factor from heavy drinking and smoking. Associations between trajectory classes and risk factors were relatively unique to the substance being predicted. The association of smoking with alcohol expectancies and delinquency appeared to exist by virtue of smoking's comorbidity with drinking.     

The interactive effects of low self-control and commitment to school on substance abuse among college students

This study examined the combined influence of two predicting factors-low self-control and commitment to schooling-that research has shown have independent effects on substance abuse. In a sample of 598 college students, this study tested the interactive effects of these factors while controlling for other established predictors of binge drinking and drug use. Analysis showed that participants who had both low self-control and low schooling commitment had significantly higher scores on substance abuse than would be expected from the independent influences of the component factors, which suggests that the combined effects of these predictors on substance abuse have a greater influence than their direct influences.