title: Are genetically informed designs genetically informative? Comment on McGue, Elkins, Walden, and Iacono (2005) and quantitative behavioral genetics.
abstract: M. McGue, I. Elkins, B. Walden, and W. G. Iacono presented the findings from a twin study examining the relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors to the developmental trajectories of parent-adolescent relationships. From a behavioral genetics perspective, this study is well conceptualized, is well implemented, and raises some interesting developmental questions. Yet, the classic twin methodology and heritability estimates obfuscate the dynamic gene-ecology transactions that underlie these social developmental trajectories. There is a growing divide between the findings of quantitative behavioral genetics, with its foundational estimate of a statistical genetic influence, and developmental molecular genetics. This comment provides a brief overview of this divide and its implications for the findings of McGue et al. as well as quantitative behavioral genetics more broadly.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202, USA. tpartrid@wayne.edu
authors.forename: Ty
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Partridge
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D005824:Genetics, Behavioral; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012737:Sex Factors; D012931:Social Environment; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014427:Twins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology*