Exploring gene-environment interactions: socioregional moderation of alcohol use. |
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Authors: | D M Dick R J Rose R J Viken J Kaprio M Koskenvuo |
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Institution: | Department of Psychology, Indiana University at Bloomington, 47405, USA. |
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Abstract: | Examples of gene-environment interaction in human behavioral data are relatively rare; those that exist have used simple, dichotomous measures of the environment. The authors describe a model that allows for the specification of more continuous, more realistic variations in environments as moderators of genetic and environmental influences on behavior. Using data from a population-based Finnish twin study, the authors document strong moderating effects of socioregional environments on genetic and environmental influences on adolescent alcohol use, with nearly a five-fold difference in the magnitude of genetic effects between environmental extremes. The incorporation of specific environmental measures into genetically informative designs should prove to be a powerful method for better understanding the nature of gene-environment interaction and its contribution to the etiology of behavioral variation. |
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