Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 March 2019
This study used a structural equation mixture model to examine associations between child maltreatment, polygenic risk, and indices of adaptive functioning. Children aged 6 to 13 years (N = 1,004), half maltreated, half nonmaltreated, were recruited to attend a research day camp. Multi-informant indicators of prosocial behavior, antisocial behavior, withdrawn behavior, and depression were collected and used in a latent class analysis. Four classes emerged, characterizing “well-adjusted,” “externalizing,” “internalizing,” and “socially dominant” groups. Twelve genetic variants, previously reported in the Gene × Environment literature, were modeled as one weighted polygenic risk score. Large main effects between maltreatment and adaptive functioning were observed (Wald = 35.3, df = 3, p < .0001), along with evidence of a small Gene × Environment effect (Wald = 13.5, df = 3, p = .004), adjusting for sex, age, and covariate interaction effects.
Eric L. Thibodeau is now a postdoctoral research associate in the Psychology Department at the University of Minnesota.
Funding received from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA17741), the National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH083979), the Jacobs Foundation, and the Spunk Fund, Inc., awarded to Dante Cicchetti supported this research. We wish to acknowledge Ann Masten, Gerald August, Kathleen Thomas, and William Oetting for critiquing the manuscript.