title: Confirmatory and competitive evaluation of alternative gene-environment interaction hypotheses.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Most gene-environment interaction (GXE) research, though based on clear, vulnerability-oriented hypotheses, is carried out using exploratory rather than hypothesis-informed statistical tests, limiting power and making formal evaluation of competing GXE propositions difficult.
  
  
  METHODS
  We present and illustrate a new regression technique which affords direct testing of theory-derived predictions, as well as competitive evaluation of alternative diathesis-stress and differential-susceptibility propositions, using data on the moderating effect of DRD4 with regard to the effect of childcare quality on children's social functioning.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results show that (a) the new approach detects interactions that the traditional one does not; (b) the discerned GXE fit the differential-susceptibility model better than the diathesis-stress one; and (c) a strong rather than weak version of differential susceptibility is empirically supported.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The new method better fits the theoretical 'glove' to the empirical 'hand,' raising the prospect that some failures to replicate GXE results may derive from standard statistical approaches being less than ideal.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Ecology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Jay
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Belsky
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pluess
authors.forename: Keith F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Widaman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology*; D002654:Child Care / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D059647:Gene-Environment Interaction; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D050638:Receptors, Dopamine D4 / Q000235:genetics*; D012107:Research Design / Q000592:standards; D012919:Social Behavior
chemical_list: C493599:DRD4 protein, human; D050638:Receptors, Dopamine D4
keywords: DRD4; Gene-environment interaction; child care; diathesis-stress; differential susceptibility