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Gene–Environment Interaction in the Behavioral Sciences: Findings, Challenges, and Prospects

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Gene-Environment Transactions in Developmental Psychopathology

Abstract

We review gene × environment interaction (G×E) research in behavioral and psychiatric genetics. Two approaches to G×E are contrasted: a latent-variable approach that seeks to determine whether the heritability of a behavioral outcome varies by environmental exposure, and a candidate-gene × environment approach that seeks to determine whether genotypes are differentially sensitive to environmental conditions. Three major challenges to current G×E research are identified: (1) most published G×E findings are based on small samples and thus a high proportion are likely to be false-positive reports; (2) imprecision in the assessment of the phenotype, environment, and the genotype can significantly attenuate the power of a G×E study; and (3) a G×E is not an inherent property of the organism but rather a feature of a statistical model and so its identification depends on the structure of that model. The promise of genomic medicine is that interventions can be tailored to individual treatments, a form of G×E. Nonetheless, there is currently limited evidence of gene × intervention interactions in behavioral and psychiatric genetics. Future gene × intervention research will benefit from what we have learned from earlier G×E research and especially the need for large samples and the standardization of assessments to enable pooling of data across multiple studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, 75 East River Rd, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA

    Matt McGue & Bridget E. Carey

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Correspondence to Matt McGue .

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  1. Youth-Nex Center, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

    Patrick H. Tolan

  2. Department of Psychiatry, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA

    Bennett L. Leventhal

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McGue, M., Carey, B.E. (2017). Gene–Environment Interaction in the Behavioral Sciences: Findings, Challenges, and Prospects. In: Tolan, P., Leventhal, B. (eds) Gene-Environment Transactions in Developmental Psychopathology. Advances in Development and Psychopathology: Brain Research Foundation Symposium Series, vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49227-8_3

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