Environment Correlation (environment + correlation)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Personality and marital satisfaction: a behavioural genetic analysis

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 3 2005
Erica L. Spotts
Previous research has found that genetic and nonshared environmental factors influence marital quality (Spotts et al., 2004). The current study explored personality as a source for these genetic and environmental individual differences. A sample of 752 Swedish twin women and their spouses were used. Genetic and environmental influences were found for self-report measures of marital quality, but only environmental factors contributed to the variance of observational measures of marital quality. Wives' personality characteristics accounted for genetic and nonshared environmental variance in the wives' own marital satisfaction, their husbands' marital satisfaction, and the agreement between the spouses on the quality of their marriage. Genetic influences on the correlation between wives' genetically influenced personality characteristics and their husbands' marital satisfaction indicate a gene,environment correlation. Contrary to expectations, husbands' personality did not explain large portions of wives' marital satisfaction beyond that explained by wives' personality. This study emphasizes the importance of spousal personality to the well-being of marriages, and results are discussed within the context of three different theories regarding associations between personality and marital quality. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Tryptophan hydroxylase 1 gene haplotypes modify the effect of a hostile childhood environment on adulthood harm avoidance

GENES, BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR, Issue 4 2007
L. Keltikangas-Järvinen
We conducted a series of tests to determine whether there is any association between tryptophan hydroxylase 1 (TPH1) and temperament in adulthood. In addition to testing for main effects, we investigated whether TPH1 gene variation modifies the influence of childhood environment on temperament in adulthood. The subjects were 341 healthy adults whose childhood environment was assessed by their mothers in 1980 and who self-rated their temperaments twice, in 1997 and 2001. We found no association between the TPH1 gene and temperament; however, among women, the TPH1 gene modified a relationship between adverse childhood environment and harm avoidance in adulthood. This finding was confirmed in the same sample in another test setting 4 years later. The presence of the A/A haplotype of the TPH1 intron 7 A218A and A779C polymorphism predicted a high level of adulthood harm avoidance in the presence of a hostile childhood environment as defined in terms of emotional rejection, maternal neglect and harsh and inconsistent discipline. In addition, the findings suggest a gene,environment correlation for novelty seeking in men. [source]


Parents' feelings towards their adoptive and non-adoptive children

INFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2010
Marshaun B. Glover
Abstract In the current study, we examined parent gender differences in feelings (negativity and positivity) and perceptions of child behavioural and emotional problems in adoptive and biological parent,child dyads. In a sample of 85 families, we used a novel within-family adoption design in which one child was adopted and one child was a biological child of the couple, and tested whether the links between parent feelings and child maladjustment included effects of passive gene,environment correlation. Parents reported more negativity and less positivity as well as higher levels of externalizing behaviour for the adopted child compared to the non-adopted child, although effect sizes were small and no longer statistically significant after correcting for multiple comparisons. Fathers and mothers did not differ significantly in their reports of positive and negative feelings towards their children or in regard to child externalizing and internalizing behaviours. The correlations between parental negativity and positivity and child externalizing and internalizing were similar for fathers and mothers, and for adopted and non-adopted children. The findings suggest similar parent,child relationship processes for fathers and mothers, and that genetic transmission of behaviour from parent to child does not account for the association between parental warmth and hostility and child-adjustment problems. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Gene,environment interplay and psychopathology: multiple varieties but real effects

THE JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY AND ALLIED DISCIPLINES, Issue 3-4 2006
Michael Rutter
Gene,environment interplay is a general term that covers several divergent concepts with different meanings and different implications. In this review, we evaluate research evidence on four varieties of gene,environment interplay. First, we consider epigenetic mechanisms by which environmental influences alter the effects of genes. Second, we focus on variations in heritability according to environmental circumstances. Third, we discuss what is known about gene,environment correlations. Finally, we assess concepts and findings on the interaction between specific identified genes and specific measured environmental risks. In order to provide an understanding of what may be involved in gene,environment interplay, we begin our presentation with a brief historical review of prevailing views about the role of genetic and environmental factors in the causation of mental disorders, and we provide a simplified account of some of the key features of how genes ,work'. [source]


Bird Community Composition in a Shaded Coffee Agro-ecological Matrix in Puebla, Mexico: The Effects of Landscape Heterogeneity at Multiple Spatial Scales

BIOTROPICA, Issue 2 2010
Eurídice Leyequién
ABSTRACT This study examined the importance of habitat heterogeneity on the avian community composition, and investigated the scale at which species abundances respond to habitat variables. The study was conducted within a diverse landscape matrix of a shaded coffee region in Mexico. To detect at which characteristic spatial scale different species and foraging guilds respond most strongly we analyzed the effect of plot-, patch- and landscape-level variables at different spatial extent (i.e., different kilometer radii) on species composition and foraging guilds. We used redundancy analysis to identify species,environment correlations, and to identify predictor variables that best explained the bird community structure, quantified the influence of plot-, patch- and landscape-level variables on the bird community composition. In addition, we used the 4th-corner method to detect significant relationships between the dietary guilds and plot-, patch- and landscape-level variables. We recorded 12,335 individuals of 181 bird species; 105 bird species were recorded foraging within the shaded coffee plantations. We found that plot- and landscape-level variables significantly explained the bird community composition best across all scales, and were significantly correlated with the abundance of the dietary guilds. In contrast, patch-level variables were less important. Habitat composition variables (i.e., coffee, forest and agricultural area) were among the most important predictors. Canopy structure was more important than other vegetation structure variables in explaining dietary guild structure. Hence, the maintenance of a heterogeneous landscape with a high-quality matrix within an agro-ecological region enhances bird conservation. Abstract in Spanish is available at http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/loi/btp [source]