Publications
Elam, K. K., Harold, G. T., Neiderhiser, J. M., Reiss, D., Shaw, D. S., Natsuaki, M. N., Gaysina, D., Barrett, D., & Leve, L. D. (in press). Adoptive parent hostility and children’s peer behavior problems: Examining the role of genetically-informed child attributes on adoptive parent behavior. Developmental Psychology, 50, 1543–1542.
Abstract: Socially disruptive behavior during peer interactions in early childhood is detrimental to children’s social,
emotional, and academic development. Few studies have investigated the developmental underpinnings
of children’s socially disruptive behavior using genetically sensitive research designs that allow examination
of parent-on-child and child-on-parent (evocative genotype– environment correlation [rGE])
effects when examining family process and child outcome associations. Using an adoption-at-birth design, the present study controlled for passive genotype– environment correlation and directly examined
evocative rGE while examining the associations between family processes and children’s peer behavior.
Specifically, the present study examined the evocative effect of genetic influences underlying toddler low
social motivation on mother– child and father– child hostility and the subsequent influence of parent hostility on disruptive peer behavior during the preschool period. Participants were 316 linked triads of
birth mothers, adoptive parents, and adopted children. Path analysis showed that birth mother low
behavioral motivation predicted toddler low social motivation, which predicted both adoptive mother–child
and father– child hostility, suggesting the presence of an evocative genotype–environment association. In
addition, both mother–child and father– child hostility predicted children’s later disruptive peer behavior.
Results highlight the importance of considering genetically influenced child attributes on parental hostility that
in turn links to later child social behavior. Implications for intervention programs focusing on early family
processes and the precursors of disrupted child social development are discussed.
