Content area
Full Text
(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)
Special Section Editorial
Preparation of this manuscript was supported by Starting Grant 240994 from the European Research Council (to A. K.) and by RES-062-23-1583 from the Economic and Social Research Council (to S. J.). The authors thank Reut Avinun and Salomon Israel for their comments on an earlier version of this editorial.
A key principle in modern research on developmental psychopathology is that psychopathology and individual differences in normal development are the joint products of both biological and social influences (Kendler, 2011; Rutter, Moffitt, & Caspi, 2006). Interest in the study of Gene × Environment (G × E) interactions has soared in recent years, with scores of papers published on the interactive effects of measured genes and measured environments (Duncan & Keller, 2011). Although there are methodological and conceptual challenges to be overcome in the study of G × E (Duncan & Keller, 2011), these studies have offered proof of principle, generated new theories about gene-environment interplay (e.g., Belsky & Pluess, 2009), and generated new hypotheses about how genes and environments interact at the biological level to influence the development of normal and abnormal behavior (Caspi, Hariri, Holmes, Uher, & Moffitt, 2010).
A much less studied process by which genes and environments operate together in development concerns gene-environment correlation (rGE). This Special Section is concerned with the role of rGEs in developmental psychopathology. The term rGE describes the process by which an individual's genotype influences, or is associated with, his or her exposure to the environment (Kendler & Eaves, 1986; Plomin, DeFries, & Loehlin, 1977). Although the notion of rGE may be relatively unfamiliar to psychologists and psychiatrists, it builds on well-established theories of person-environment correlation (e.g., Elder, 1998) that describe how a person's behavior, personality, or cognitive abilities shape his or her environment. As noted by Kendler (2011), the study of rGE also has a long history in evolutionary biology, where there is ample evidence that animals are genetically programmed to modify their environments in ways that maximize genetic fitness.
Plomin et al. (1977) described three main rGE processes: passive, evocative (also called reactive), and active. In passive rGE, genetic relatedness between the parent and the child accounts for observed...