The interplay of birthweight DRD4 and early maternal care in the prediction of disorganized attachment at 36 months of age

摘要

BackgroundDisorganized attachment is an important early risk factor for socio-emotional problems throughout childhood and into adulthood. Prevailing models of the etiology of disorganized attachment emphasize the role of highly dysfunctional parenting, to the exclusion of complex models examining the interplay of child and parental factors. Decades of research have established that extreme child birth weight may have long-term effects on developmental processes. These effects are typically negative, but this is not always the case. Recent studies have also identified the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) as a moderator of childrearing effects on the development of disorganized attachment. However, there are inconsistent findings concerning which variant of the polymorphism (7-repeat long-form allele or non 7-repeat short form) is most likely to interact with caregiving in predicting disorganized versus organized attachment. In this study we examined possible 2- and 3-way interactions between child DRD4 polymorphisms and birth weight and maternal caregiving at age 6 months in longitudinally predicting attachment disorganization at 36 months.