The present study tested models of polygenic by environment interaction between early childhood family instability and polygenic risk for aggression predicting developmental trajectories of aggression from middle childhood to adolescence. With a longitudinal sample of 515 racially and ethnically diverse children from low-income families, primary caregivers reported on multiple components of family instability annually from child ages 2–5 years. A conservative polygenic risk score (p = 0.05) was generated based on a prior meta-genome wide association study. Trajectories of aggression were identified using a curve of factors model based on a composite of primary caregiver, alternate caregiver, and teacher reports at five ages from 7.5 to 14 years. The family instability by polygenic interaction predicted growth in children’s aggression such that children with lower levels of family instability and lower polygenic risk exhibited a steeper decline in aggression from 7.5 to 14. Findings support the need to model gene-environment interplay to elucidate the role of genetics in the development of aggressive behaviors.

本研究测试了儿童早期家庭不稳定与攻击性多基因风险之间环境相互作用的多基因模型，预测从童年中期到青春期的攻击性发展轨迹。通过对来自低收入家庭的 515 名不同种族和民族的儿童进行纵向抽样，主要照顾者每年报告 2 至 5 岁儿童家庭不稳定的多个组成部分。保守的多基因风险评分（ p = 0.05）是根据先前的元基因组广泛关联研究生成的。使用因素曲线模型确定攻击性轨迹，该曲线模型基于 7.5 至 14 岁五个年龄段主要看护者、替代看护者和教师报告的综合报告。多基因相互作用造成的家庭不稳定预测了儿童攻击性的增长，家庭不稳定水平较低和多基因风险较低的儿童的攻击性从 7.5 岁下降到 14 岁。研究结果支持需要对基因与环境相互作用进行建模，以阐明基因与环境相互作用的作用。攻击性行为发展中的遗传因素。