Research Review: Genetic vulnerability or differential susceptibility in child development: the case of attachment
- 12 December 2007
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Wiley in Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
- Vol. 48 (12) , 1160-1173
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2007.01801.x
Abstract
Gene–environment interactions interpreted in terms of differential susceptibility may play a large part in the explanation of individual differences in human development. Reviewing studies on the behavioral and molecular genetics of attachment, we present evidence for interactions between genetic and environmental factors explaining individual differences in attachment security and disorganization. In particular, the DRD4 7‐repeat polymorphism seems associated with an increased risk for disorganized attachment, but only when combined with environmental risk. Gene–environment (G × E) interactions may be interpreted as genetic vulnerabilityordifferential susceptibility. We found support for the differential susceptibility hypothesis predicting not only morenegativeoutcomes for susceptible children in unfavorable environments, but alsopositiveoutcomes for susceptible children infavorableenvironments.Keywords
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