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

The Early Growth and Development Study: Using the Prospective Adoption Design to Examine Genotype-Environment Interplay

The Early Growth and Development Study (EGDS) is a prospective adoption design consisting of 360 linked sets of birth parents, adoptive parents, and adopted children followed from 3 months postpartum through child age 7 years and an additional 200 linked sets for whom recruitment is underway. The EGDS brings together the study of genotype-environment correlation and Genotype x Environment (GxE) interaction to inform intervention development by examining mechanisms whereby family processes mediate or moderate the expression of genetic influences. Participants in the EGDS are recruited through domestic adoption agencies located throughout the United States of America. The assessments occur at 6-month intervals until child age 4-1/2 years and at ages 6 and 7, when the children are in their 1st and 2nd years of formal schooling (kindergarten and first grade). The data collection includes measures of child characteristics, birth and adoptive parent characteristics, adoptive parenting, prenatal exposure to drugs and maternal stress, birth parent and adopted child salivary cortisol reactivity, and DNA from all participants. The preliminary analyses suggest evidence for GxE interaction beginning in infancy. An intervention perspective on future developments in the field of behavioral genetics is described.