The quality of the interparental relationship does not moderate the etiology of child conduct problems

Although there is a clear phenotypic relationship between the quality of the interparental or marital relationship and child conduct problems (CP), the etiology of this association is as yet unclear. One possibility is that this association takes the form of a genotype-environment interaction (G × E), whereby the quality of the interparental relationship acts to moderate the etiology of child CP. The current study sought to evaluate this possibility.

We examined multiple measures and informant reports of the quality of the interparental relationship in a sample of more than 700 child twin families from the Michigan State University Twin Registry (MSUTR). Analyses consisted of a series of latent G × E models.

The 'no moderation' model provided the best fit to the data in nearly all cases, findings that collectively provide strong evidence against the possibility that the etiology of CP is moderated by the quality of the interparental relationship.

Our findings suggest that, contrary to implicit (and sometimes explicit) assumptions in the field, it is not the case that every environmental risk (or protective) factor exacerbates (or suppresses) genetic influences on CP. Future research should seek to delineate the specific environmental experiences that do serve as etiologic moderators of CP, and to clarify how this G × E interplay might change over the course of development.