title: Design, Utility, and History of the Colorado Adoption Project: Examples Involving Adjustment Interactions.
abstract: This paper describes the Colorado Adoption Project (CAP), a longitudinal study in behavioral development, and discusses how adoption studies may be used to assess genetic and environmental etiologies of individual differences for important developmental outcomes. Previous CAP research on adjustment outcomes in childhood and adolescence which found significant interactions, including gene-environment interactions, is reviewed. New research suggests mediating effects of menarche and religiosity on age at first sex in this predominantly middle-class, Caucasian sample.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0447.
authors.forename: Sally Ann
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Rhea
authors.forename: Josh B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Bricker
authors.forename: Robin P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Corley
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Defries
authors.forename: Sally J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Wadsworth
keywords: adjustment; adoption studies; gene-environment interactions