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Intergenerational transmission of risk for social inhibition: The interplay between parental responsiveness and genetic influences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2013

Misaki N. Natsuaki ,
Leslie D. Leve ,
Jenae M. Neiderhiser ,
Daniel S. Shaw ,
Laura V. Scaramella ,
Xiaojia Ge  and
David Reiss
Misaki N. Natsuaki*
Affiliation:
University of California, Riverside
Leslie D. Leve
Affiliation:
Oregon Social Learning Center
Jenae M. Neiderhiser
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University
Daniel S. Shaw
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
Laura V. Scaramella
Affiliation:
University of New Orleans
Xiaojia Ge
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
David Reiss
Affiliation:
Yale Child Study Center
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Misaki N. Natsuaki, Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA 92521; E-mail: misaki.natsuaki@ucr.edu.
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Abstract

To better understand mechanisms underlying the intergenerational transmission of social anxiety, we used a prospective adoption design to examine the roles of genetic influences (inferred from birth mothers' social phobia) and rearing environment (adoptive mothers' and fathers' responsiveness) on the development of socially inhibited, anxious behaviors in children between 18 and 27 months of age. The sample consisted of 275 adoption-linked families, each including an adopted child, adoptive parents, and a birth mother. Results indicated that children whose birth mothers met criteria for the diagnosis of social phobia showed elevated levels of observed behavioral inhibition in a social situation at 27 months of age if their adoptive mothers provided less emotionally and verbally responsive rearing environments at 18 months of age. Conversely, in the context of higher levels of maternal responsiveness, children of birth mothers with a history of social phobia did not show elevated levels of behavioral inhibition. These findings on maternal responsiveness were replicated in a model predicting parent reports of child social anxiety. The findings are discussed in terms of gene–environment interactions in the intergenerational transmission of social anxiety.

Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 25 , Issue 1: Gene–Environment Correlation in Developmental Psychopathology , February 2013 , pp. 261 - 274
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013

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