Examining the role of genetic risk and longitudinal transmission processes underlying maternal parenting and psychopathology and children’s ADHD symptoms and aggression: utilizing the advantages of a prospective adoption design

Although genetic factors may contribute to initial liability for ADHD onset, there is growing evidence of the potential importance of the rearing environment on the developmental course of ADHD symptomatology. However, associations between family-level variables (maternal hostility, maternal depressive symptoms) and child behaviors (developmental course of ADHD and aggression) may be explained by genes that are shared by biologically related parents and children. Furthermore, ADHD symptoms and aggression commonly co-occur: it is important to consider both simultaneously to have a better understanding of processes underlying the developmental course of ADHD and aggression. To addresses these issues, we employed a longitudinal genetically sensitive parent–offspring adoption design. Analyses were conducted using Cohort I (n = 340) of the Early Growth and Development Study with cross-validation analyses conducted with Cohort II (n = 178). Adoptive mother hostility, but not depression, was associated with later child ADHD symptoms and aggression. Mothers and their adopted children were genetically unrelated, removing passive rGE as a possible explanation. Early child impulsivity/activation was associated with later ADHD symptoms and aggression. Child impulsivity/activation was also associated with maternal hostility, with some evidence for evocative gene-environment correlation processes on adoptive mother depressive symptoms. This study provides novel insights into family-based environmental influences on child ADHD and aggression symptoms, independent of shared parental genetic factors, implications of which are further explicated in the discussion

On the Determinants of Denouncing Illegal Fishing: A Field Study in Artisanal Fishing Communities

Many artisanal fishing communities struggle with overfishing. One potential channel to mitigate overfishing is through self-monitoring and denouncing of illegal fishing practices. In this paper, we investigate the determinants of fishermen’s willingness to report the catching of illegally small fish at a lake in Brazil. By using laboratory experiments and surveys, we provide novel evidence that impatience and pro-sociality play key roles. Fishermen who are more impatient in a laboratory inter-temporal choice experiment show a higher propensity to report misbehavior from other fishermen. This finding suggests that impatience is a driver for the punishment of resource exploitation. Moreover, we find that fishermen who are more pro-social in a laboratory public goods experiment are also more likely to report overfishing, suggesting that both time and social preferences are related to the reporting of resource overexploitation.No Full Tex