The Nature of Nurture: Utilizing Genetically Sensitive Research Designs to Examine Family Relationship Influences on Childhood Psychopathology Seminar

The development of aggression and depression among youth constitutes an area of significant social, clinical, policy and public health concern. Understanding processes and mechanisms that underlie the development of psychopathology during childhood and adolescence requires theoretical and methodological integration across multiple scientific domains, including developmental science, neuroscience, genetics and prevention science.

The primary focus of this presentation is to examine the relative role of genetic and family environmental influences on children’s emotional and behavioural development. Specifically, a complementary array of genetically sensitive and longitudinal research designs will be employed to examine the role of early environmental adversity (e.g. inter-parental conflict, harsh parenting practices) relative to inherited factors in accounting for individual differences in the propensity for children to experience elevated symptoms of psychopathology (depression, aggression). Examples of recent applications of this research to the development of evidence-based practice and policy initiatives will also be presented.