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. 2009 Feb;77(1):1-11.
doi: 10.1037/a0012996.

Parenting moderates a genetic vulnerability factor in longitudinal increases in youths' substance use

Gene H Brody  1 , Steven R H Beach, Robert A Philibert, Yi-Fu Chen, Man-Kit Lei, Velma McBride Murry, Anita C Brown
Affiliations

Parenting moderates a genetic vulnerability factor in longitudinal increases in youths' substance use

Gene H Brody et al. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2009 Feb.

Abstract

The authors used a longitudinal, prospective design to investigate a moderation effect in the association between a genetic vulnerability factor, a variable nucleotide repeat polymorphism in the promoter region of 5HTT (5-HTTLPR), and increases in youths' substance use. The primary study hypothesis predicted that involved-supportive parenting would attenuate the link between the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism and longitudinal increases in substance use. African American youths residing in rural Georgia (N = 253, mean age = 11.5 years) provided 4 waves of data on their own substance use; the mothers of the youths provided data on their own parenting practices. Genetic data were obtained from youths via saliva samples. Latent growth curve modeling indicated that 5-HTTLPR status (presence of 1 or 2 copies of the s allele) was linked with increases in substance use over time; however, this association was greatly reduced when youths received high levels of involved-supportive parenting. This study demonstrates that parenting processes have the potential to ameliorate genetic risk.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mean rate of increase on the substance use index for genetic risk × parenting combinations. Groups classified as low on involved-supportive parenting include families at or below the 30th percentile for the study sample; groups classified as high include those at or above the 70th percentile.
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