Question

The results of Babineau et al. (2014) suggest that infant genotype and exposure to
prenatal depression in the mother interact to predict the level of emotional
dysregulation in the infants. How did the researchers conclude that there was an
interaction between genotype and environment? And how did the researchers
determine that infants didn‘t simply inherit a tendency for dysregulation from their
mothers?

Answer 1

The researchers concluded that there was an interaction between genotype and environment analyzing the interaction between the genotype and women with prenatal depression for predictions of dysregulations in childhood. This was done by extracting the HTTLPR genotype from buccal swabs from mothers who self reported symptoms of depression at 24-36 weeks during gestation and 3 to 36 months post partum. The study concluded that children with S or Lg alleles have higher chances of dysregulation when exposed to prenatal depression.