3-117 - Incorporating Culture and Diversity in Understanding Genetic and Environmental Influences on Human Development

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

It is well known that genes and environments interact to shape human development. However, genetically informed research has primarily focused on samples of European ancestry. In addition, although culture plays a pivotal role in adaptive and maladaptive development, research has rarely examined how genes may interact with culture to influence development. Informed by the cultural genomics perspective (Causadias & Korous, 2017), this symposium addresses the interplay of genes, environment, and cultural processes across diverse populations. The papers are from three distinct research groups, using different genetic approaches (i.e., twin design and genome-wide polygenic scores), and focusing on different developmental outcomes (i.e., executive functioning, alcohol problems, and education attainment) from childhood to young adulthood. The first paper uses data from an ethnically diverse sample of twins to show that familism moderates genetic and environmental influences on children’s executive functioning. The second paper shows that genetic risk for alcohol dependence did not interact with peer deviance and stressful life events to predict trajectories of alcohol problems among African American college students, despite that these environmental factors have been shown to exacerbate genetic effects on alcohol use outcomes in European American samples. The third paper demonstrates that community disadvantages moderate the effect of genetic predispositions toward educational attainment on college attendance among African Americans. Our discussant will debate how these studies advance our knowledge of the interplay between genes, environment, and cultural processes, and the challenge of overcoming under- and mis-representation of racial/ethnic minorities in genetically informed developmental research.

Sub Unit

• Biological Processes: Neuroscience and Genetics

Chair

• Jinni Su, Virginia Commonwealth University

Discussant

• José M. Causadias, Arizona State University

Individual Presentations

• The Moderation of Genetic and Environmental Influences on Executive Functioning: The Role of Familism Values - Presenting Author: Gianna Rea-Sandin, Arizona State University; Non-Presenting Author: Leah D. Doane, Arizona State University; Non-Presenting Author: Kathryn Lemery-Chalfant, Arizona State University

• Examining Gene-Environment Interactions in Trajectories of Alcohol Use Disorder Symptoms Among African American College Students - Presenting Author: Jinni Su, Virginia Commonwealth University; Non-Presenting Author: Sally I-Chun Kuo, Virginia Commonwealth University; Non-Presenting Author: Jacquelyn L. Meyers, State University of New York Downstate Medical Center; Non-Presenting Author: Mignonne C. Guy, Virginia Commonwealth University; Non-Presenting Author: Danielle M. Dick, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Higher Education Attainment: Individual and Contextual Pathways Associated with an Educational Attainment Polygenic Score - Presenting Author: Jill A. Rabinowitz, Johns Hopkins University; Non-Presenting Author: Sally I-Chun Kuo, Virginia Commonwealth University; Non-Presenting Author: Adam Milam, Johns Hopkins University; Non-Presenting Author: Kelly Benke, Johns Hopkins University; Non-Presenting Author: Danielle Y. Sisto, Johns Hopkins University; Non-Presenting Author: George Uhl, New Mexico VA HealthCare System; Non-Presenting Author: Brion S. Maher, Johns Hopkins University; Non-Presenting Author: Nicholas S. Lalongo, Johns Hopkins University