Disentangling genetic and environmental influences on early language development: The interplay of genetic propensity for negative emotionality and surgency,and parenting behavior effects on early language skills in an adoption study |
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| Authors: | Rachael W Cheung Chloe Austerberry Pasco Fearon Marianna E Hayiou-Thomas Leslie D Leve Daniel S Shaw Jody M Ganiban Misaki N Natsuaki Jenae M Neiderhieser David Reiss |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Health Sciences, University of York, York, UK;2. Department of Psychology, Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK;3. Department of Psychology, University of York, York, UK;4. Prevention Science Institute, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA;5. Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburg, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA;6. Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, District of Columbia, USA;7. Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, California, USA;8. Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA;9. Yale Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA |
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| Abstract: | Parenting and children's temperament are important influences on language development. However, temperament may reflect prior parenting, and parenting effects may reflect genes common to parents and children. In 561 U.S. adoptees (57% male) and their birth and rearing parents (70% and 92% White, 13% and 4% African American, and 7% and 2% Latinx, respectively), this study demonstrated how genetic propensity for temperament affects language development, and how this relates to parenting. Genetic propensity for negative emotionality inversely predicted language at 27 months (β = ?.15) and evoked greater maternal warmth (β = .12), whereas propensity for surgency positively predicted language at 4.5 years (β = .20), especially when warmth was low. Parental warmth (β = .15) and sensitivity (β = .19) further contributed to language development, controlling for common gene effects. |
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