INTEGRATING NATURE AND NURTURE - IMPLICATIONS OF PERSON-ENVIRONMENT CORRELATIONS AND INTERACTIONS FOR DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

The developmental interplay between nature and nurture is discussed, w ith particular reference to implications for research in developmental psychopathology. The general principles include individual difference s in reactivity to the environment, two-way interplay between intraind ividual biology and environmental influences, and the need to consider broader social contextual features. Individuals actively process thei r experiences; they also act on their environment to shape and select their experiences, and individual characteristics change over time. Ke y findings on genetic effects include their ubiquitous influence, the multifactorial origin of most psychopathology, the involvement of seve ral genes in most mental disorders, some genetic effects operate throu gh dimensional risk features rather than directly on disorder, some ge netic effects are dependent on gene-environment correlations and inter actions, and genetic effects increase with age. Key findings on enviro nmental effects include their ubiquitous influence, the genetic mediat ion of some supposed environmental effects, the importance of passive gene-environment correlations, the paucity of evidence regarding envir onmental effects on lifetime liability to psychopathology, the lack of understanding of environmental effects on the organism, and the impor tance of nonshared environmental effects. Research strategies to inves tigate environmental risk mediation include the range of genetically s ensitive designs, migration studies, secular trend investigations, stu dies of nonfamilial environments, and examination of intraindividual c hange in relation to measured environmental alterations. Proximal proc esses involved in person-environment interplay are discussed in relati on to person-environment interactions and evocative and active person- environment correlations.