2-015 - Peer influences on child and adolescent social competencies: Evaluating genetic and environmental influences

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Positive and negative peer interactions during childhood have concurrent and enduring effects on social competencies. Examining the impact of gene-environment interplay on peer relationships can help identify peer influence mechanisms by disentangling genetic and environmental sources of variation and suggest avenues for environmental interventions.

The studies in this symposium utilize longitudinal twin, adoption, and molecular genetic designs to evaluate genetic and environmental peer influences on social competencies. The first paper focuses on emotion expression in twin pairs and the role of early temperament on children’s emotional reactivity to their siblings, who are often children’s “first same-age peers.” Results suggests that peer social competencies in negative emotionality children can be enhanced by interventions designed to promote positive social functioning. Consistent with this possibility, the second paper uses a longitudinal adoption design and demonstrates that heritable influences on cooperative play with peers indirectly influence later social competence and that child positive emotionality elicits cooperative play with peers. The third paper takes a molecular genetic approach to evaluate whether a differential susceptibility gene score moderates longitudinal growth in the effect of peer externalizing behavior problems on adolescent externalizing behavior problems. Results showed main effects of both the gene score and peer externalizing on trajectories of adolescent externalizing, as well as significant gene-by-environment interaction.

For our fourth talk, a discussant will advance an integrative conceptual analysis of the work presented, discuss implications of genetic approaches for understanding peer influences, and point to future directions in genetically informed research on peers.

Sub Unit

• Biological Processes: Neuroscience and Genetics

Chair

• Gabriel Schlomer, University at Albany

Discussant

• H. Harrington (Bo) Cleveland, Penn State University

Individual Presentations

• Emotion expression and the sibling dynamic in twin pairs: The role of early life temperament. - Presenting Author: Veronica Oro, Arizona State University; Non-Presenting Author: Leah D. Doane, Arizona State University; Non-Presenting Author: Kathryn Lemery-Chalfant, Arizona State University

• Genetic and Environmental Influences on Parent and Peer Relationships Fostering School Readiness - Presenting Author: Amanda Griffin, University of Oregon; Non-Presenting Author: Leslie D. Leve, University of Oregon; Non-Presenting Author: Daniel S. Shaw, University of Pittsburgh; Non-Presenting Author: David Reiss, Yale Child Study Center; Non-Presenting Author: Jody Ganiban, George Washington University; Non-Presenting Author: Misaki N Natsuaki, University of California, Riverside; Non-Presenting Author: Jenae Neiderhiser, The Pennsylvania State University

• Longitudinal Peer Influences on Adolescent Externalizing Behavior Problems are Moderated by a Genetic Susceptibility Gene Score - Presenting Author: Gabriel Schlomer, University at Albany; Non-Presenting Author: H. Harrington (Bo) Cleveland, Penn State University; Non-Presenting Author: David Vandenbergh, The Pennsylvania State University; Non-Presenting Author: Mark Feinberg, The Pennsylvania State University