Shewark, E., Ramos, A., Liu, C., Jody, G., Fosco, G., Shaw, D. S., Reiss, D., Natsuaki, M. N., Leve, L. D., & Neiderhiser, J. M. (in press). The role of child negative emotionality in parenting and child adjustment: Gene-environment interplay. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

Evocative gene-environment correlation (r GE) describes a process through which children’s heritable characteristics influence their rearing environments. The current study examined if heritable influences on parenting and children’s behavioral outcomes operate through child negative emotionality.
Method: Using data from the Early Growth and Development Study, we examined associations among adoptive parent (AP) reports of child anger and sadness at 4.5 years, AP hostile and warm parenting at 6 years, and child behavioral problems and social competence at age 7. Birth parent (BP) temperament was included to test whether child effects on parents reflects evocative gene-environment correlation (rGE).
Results: Child anger at 4.5 years evoked hostile parenting from APs at 6 years, which was subsequently related to child problem behaviors at 7 years. Evocative rGE effects were identified for adoptive parents’ hostile parenting.
Conclusions: By employing a genetically-informed design, we found that BP temperament was related to child negative emotionality. Adoptive parents were sensitive to child negative emotionality and this sensitivity was linked to the child’s later adjustment.