Gene-Environment Transactions in Developmental Psychopathology: The Role in Intervention Research

301 Pages·2017·4.805 MB·English

by  Patrick H. Tolan, Bennett L. Leventhal (eds.)

Advances in Development and Psychopathology:
Brain Research Foundation Symposium Series
Patrick H. Tolan
Bennett L. Leventhal
Editors
Gene-Environment
Transactions in
Developmental
Psychopathology
The Role in Intervention Research
Advances in Development and Psychopathology:
Brain Research Foundation Symposium Series
Series Editors: Patrick H. Tolan and Bennett L. Leventhal
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8544
Patrick H. Tolan • Bennett L. Leventhal
Editors
Gene-Environment
Transactions in Developmental
Psychopathology
The Role in Intervention Research
Editors
Patrick H. Tolan Bennett L. Leventhal
Youth-Nex Center Department of Psychiatry
University of Virginia University of California at San Francisco
Charlottesville, VA, USA San Francisco, CA, USA
Advances in Development and Psychopathology: Brain Research Foundation
Symposium Series
ISBN 978-3-319-49225-4 ISBN 978-3-319-49227-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-49227-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017932277
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Contents
1 What Can and Should Be the Role of Intervention Studies
in GEX Research? ................................................................................... 1
Patrick H. Tolan and Bennett L. Leventhal
Part I Gene-Environment Transaction Framework
2 Genetics, Behavioral Intervention, and Human Development ........... 9
David Reiss
3 Gene–Environment Interaction in the Behavioral Sciences:
Findings, Challenges, and Prospects ..................................................... 35
Matt McGue and Bridget E. Carey
4 Epigenetics and the Biology of Gene × Environment Interactions ..... 59
Michael J. Meaney
5 Using Genetically Informed Designs to Understand
the Environment: The Importance of Family-Based Approaches ...... 95
Chang Liu and Jenae M. Neiderhiser
6 Gene–Environment Correlation as a Source of Stability
and Diversity in Development ................................................................ 111
Christopher R. Beam and Eric Turkheimer
7 Sampling in the Examination of Gene- Environmental
Interactions Within a Neurodevelopmental Disorder Framework .... 131
Young Shin Kim
Part II Application to Developmental Psychopathology
8 Do Gene-by-Environment Interactions Offer Potential
Intervention Strategies in Anxiety Disorders? ..................................... 147
Neal Ryan
v
vi Contents
9 Challenge and Potential for Research on Gene-Environment
Interactions in Autism Spectrum Disorder ........................................... 157
Carly L.A. Wender and Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele
10 How Can GxE Research Help Prevent the Development
of Chronic Physical Aggression?............................................................ 177
Richard E. Tremblay, Linda Booij, Nadine Provençal,
and Moshe Szyf
Part III Intervention Research: Implications for Gene
Environment Transaction Framework
11 Using Genetically Informed Prevention Trials to Test
Gene × Environment Hypotheses .......................................................... 211
Gene H. Brody
12 Developmental Mechanisms in Gene-by- Intervention (GxI)
Effects in the Fast Track Trial ................................................................ 235
Kenneth A. Dodge
13 Applying Behavioral Genetics Research to Inform
the Prevention of Developmental Psychopathology:
Drawing from the Principles of Prevention Science ............................ 251
Leslie D. Leve
14 Challenges for Intervention Research Within the GEX
Framework .............................................................................................. 283
Patrick H. Tolan and Bennett L. Leventhal
Index ................................................................................................................. 295
Contributors
Christopher R. Beam University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Linda Booij Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada
Gene H. Brody Center for Family Research, University of Georgia, Athens, GA,
USA
Bridget E. Carey Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis, MN, USA
Kenneth A. Dodge Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
Young Shin Kim Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute, University of California at
San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
Leslie D. Leve University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
Bennett L. Leventhal Department of Psychiatry, University of California at San
Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
Chang Liu Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University,
University Park, PA, USA
Matt McGue Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis,
MN, USA
Michael J. Meaney Department of Psychiatry, Ludmer Centre for Neuroinformatics
and Mental Health and Sackler Program for Epigenetics and Psychobiology at
McGill University, Douglas University Mental Health Institute, McGill University,
Montreal, QC, Canada
Jenae M. Neiderhiser Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State
University, University Park, PA, USA
Nadine Provençal Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany
vii
viii Contributors
David Reiss Yale School of Medicine, Child Study Center, New Haven, CT, USA
Neal Ryan University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Moshe Szyf McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
Patrick H. Tolan Youth-Nex Center, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA,
USA
Richard E. Tremblay University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
GRIP, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
Eric Turkheimer Department of Psychology, University of Virginia,
Charlottesville, VA, USA
Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele Department of Psychiatry and Sackler Institute
for Developmental Psychobiology, Columbia University Medical Center, New
York, NY, USA
Mortimer D. Sackler Associate Professor of Psychiatry, New York State Psychiatric
Institute, New York, NY, USA
Center for Autism and the Developing Brain, New York Presbyterian Hospital, New
York, NY, USA
Carly L.A. Wender Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical
Center, New York, NY, USA
Chapter 1
What Can and Should Be the Role
of Intervention Studies in GEX Research?
Patrick H. Tolan and Bennett L. Leventhal
This volume offers the presentations and related commentary from a multidisci-
plinary conference entitled: “Gene-Environment Transactions in Developmental
Psychopathology: Role in Intervention Research.” The meeting was held in Chicago
on September 10 and 11, 2014 under the auspices of the Brain Research Foundation.
This working conference was the second in the series of efforts designed to examine
substantive scientific and methodological issues organized to utilize a developmen-
tal psychopathology framework to identify important scientific topics and to focus
on substantive and methodological issues in advancing knowledge and practice
related to that topic. The participants were asked to join in this effort to identify
novel opportunities for scientific and clinical advances by exploring translational
science and its ability to broaden our knowledge base, pursue novel methods, and
set an agenda for the next phase in the study of developmental psychopathology.
Developmental psychopathology is the broad context for this discourse and,
hence, this volume. For the purposes of this discussion, developmental psychopa-
thology is a construct that is characterized by transactions between individuals and
the environment over the life course which contribute to variations in biological and
psychological processes that adversely affect functioning and lead to
psychopathology.
As with the prior conference, leading scientists from diverse backgrounds and
with widely varying areas of expertise were assembled to offer position statements
P.H. Tolan (*)
Youth-Nex Center, University of Virginia, 405 Emmet Street South, Charlottesville, VA
22904-4281, USA
e-mail: [email protected]
B.L. Leventhal
Department of Psychiatry, University of California at San Francisco,
Box 0984-CAS, Room LP-152, 401 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143-0984, USA
e-mail: [email protected]
© Springer International Publishing AG 2017 1
P.H. Tolan, B.L. Leventhal (eds.), Gene-Environment Transactions
in Developmental Psychopathology, Advances in Development
and Psychopathology: Brain Research Foundation Symposium Series 2,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-49227-8_1
2 P.H. Tolan and B.L. Leventhal
and discuss questions critical to advancing the science and practice of developmental
psychopathology. At the working sessions of the conference, attendees addressed
approaches, new findings, continuing challenges, and promising new directions; they
were shared, critiqued, and debated. Moreover, the presence of experts from diverse
disciplines helped to provide unique perspectives on developing intersections as well
as divergences within the work. With this information, participants were able to
refine and formulate bridges across different areas of the work presented, while pro-
viding insight into promising new directions. Ultimately, it is our collective hope and
ambition that the conference and this volume offer important next steps for research
and theory development that will expedite understanding and potential actions to
effect new and different approaches to developmental psychopathology.
The specific goal for this seminar was to probe the role and utility of intervention
research and how it can expand knowledge about Gene-Environment Transactions
(GEX) and, conversely, how this framework might inform intervention studies.
Intervention or experimental manipulation research is fundamental to scientific
study across topics and disciplines as experiments permit valid causal inference. As
acknowledged for over a century, precisely constructed and carefully executed
experimental studies provide the most convincing test of theorized causal processes
(Radder, 2009). With appropriate controls, precise formulations, and absence of
bias in comparison conditions, experiments (unlike observation studies, epidemio-
logical tracking or passive longitudinal studies) permit the conclusion that the rela-
tion between the manipulated variable and the dependent variable is causal; the
manipulated variable is seen as controlling the occurrence, level, or influence of the
dependent variable. Moreover, differential reactions to interventions can suggest
differential susceptibility (genetic, environmental and, in most cases, combinations
of these contributors). This unique capability means that intervention studies are an
important component of any substantial advancement in scientific knowledge. How
and when this utility is best applied is often controversial; it rests on work that sen-
sitively and precisely considers how major precepts, assumptions, and framework
implications impact what is to become valid and useful research.
In several chapters of this volume, the question is less about the comparative value
or whether or not intervention research is essential for understanding gene- environment
transactions, rather it is about what level of knowledge accumulation and precision of
understanding is needed for a sound experimental study to follow after substantial
observational and pattern tracing studies. At present, the field is characterized by rap-
idly developing understanding of increasing complexity about how gene and environ-
ment confluences and interdependencies act in developmental psychopathology. In
addition, there is appropriate concern about interventions that are misdirected or
poorly informed as they may mislead investigators about the roles of genes and envi-
ronment and their relation in the development and maintenance of psychopathology.
For some, it can be argued that useful intervention studies may not yet be identifiable.
However, as is shown here, the time has come to discuss how these studies might be
constructed and what questions they can address. This volume’s content suggests that
in order to be prepared for next steps, there is need for immediate attention to these
issues so that powerful scientific tools can be a ppropriately applied when warranted.
The time for this work is upon us, as examples in this volume illustrate.