2-155 - Bio-Ecological Processes in Schools: The Interplay of Social Classroom Relationships with Markers of Child Genetic Risk

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Ample evidence has demonstrated that the quality of classroom interactions and relationships impacts child and adolescent development. Congruent with bio-ecological models, however, it is recognized that development is not only shaped by the social environment, but also by child biological (including genetic) factors and their interplay. In contrast to family-related factors, the interplay of genes with school-related factors is rarely investigated and mechanisms are hardly understood. This symposium aims to advance our understanding by bringing together three studies examining markers of genetic risk, and testing gene-environment interplay using quantitative and molecular genetic designs.
The first study is an examination of the joint impact of child temperament, a behavioral marker of genetic risk, and two environmental factors (i.e., classroom quality and cumulative economic risk) on the development of academic skills. Temperament was found to moderate the impact of classroom quality; moreover, the nature of this interaction depended on the economic risk level, suggesting that child-classroom quality combinations promote or undermine success, depending on socio-economic context. The second is a quantitative genetic study providing evidence for correlations and interactions of genetic dispositions for anxiety and aggression with peer victimization. Importantly, school factors (e.g., the lack of anti-bullying rules) exacerbated this gene-environment interplay. The third study, using molecular genetics, revealed that negative as well as a lack of positive teacher-student relationships mattered most for adolescents with certain risk variants of dopaminergic genes.
A leading social developmental researcher will reflect on how these findings contribute to the conceptualization of bio-ecological processes in school settings.

Sub Unit

• Education, Schooling

Chair

• Karine Verschueren, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Discussant

• Hans M Koot, Vu University Amsterdam

Individual Presentations

• Child Temperamental Regulation and Classroom Quality in Head Start: Considering Cumulative Economic Risk - Presenting Author: Kathleen Moritz Rudasill, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Leslie R. Hawley, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Jennifer LoCasale-Crouch, University of Virginia

• Gene-Environment Interplay in the Links Between Peer Victimization, Anxiety and Aggression: The Protective Role of School Factors - Presenting Author: Fanny-Alexandra Guimond, Florida Atlantic Univ; Mara Brendgen, Univ du Quebec a Montreal; Frank Vitaro, Univ of Montreal; Ginette Dionne, Laval University; Michel Boivin, Laval University

• Teacher-Student Relationships and Adolescent School Engagement and Rule-Breaking Behavior: Moderating Role of Dopaminergic Genes - Presenting Author: Steven De Laet, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven; Hilde Colpin, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven; Karla Van Leeuwen, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven; Wim Van den Noortgate, KU Leuven; Stephan Claes, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven; Annelies Janssens, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven; Luc G Goossens, Catholic Univ of Leuven; Karine Verschueren, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven