An overview of developmental behavioral genetics

In this chapter, we present an overview of the field of developmental behavioral genetics, which serves as important context for understanding the field of behavioral epigenetics. We outline the key methodologies used in behavioral genetics, including twin, adoption and genetic association studies and highlight their main strengths and limitations. We then review some of the important and reliable findings from the field, emphasizing the following key points: most developmentally interesting traits show substantial genetic influence, that environments are also important determinants of development and that the majority of causal action is likely to be found in the interplay between genes and environment, including processes of gene-environment correlation and interaction. A crucial contribution of epigenetics in the future is likely to be in elucidating some of the biological processes involved in environmental effects and in gene-environment interplay, and realizing this will require a deep integration of genetics, epigenetics, developmental psychology and epidemiology