1. The association between infants' self-regulatory behavior and MAOA gene polymorphism.
- Author
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Zhang, Minghao, Chen, Xinyin, Way, Niobe, Yoshikawa, Hirokazu, Deng, Huihua, Ke, Xiaoyan, Yu, Weiwei, Chen, Ping, He, Chuan, Chi, Xia, and Lu, Zuhong
- Subjects
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INFANT psychology , *SELF-control in children , *GENETIC polymorphisms , *MONOAMINE oxidase , *GENDER differences (Psychology) in children , *GENOTYPE-environment interaction , *CHINESE people - Abstract
Self-regulatory behavior in early childhood is an important characteristic that has considerable implications for the development of adaptive and maladaptive functioning. The present study investigated the relations between a functional polymorphism in the upstream region of monoamine oxidase A gene (MAOA) and self-regulatory behavior in a sample of Chinese infants at 6 months of age. Self-regulation was assessed by observing infants' behavior of orienting visual attention away from a threatening event in the laboratory situation. The results indicated that regulatory behavior was associated with the functional MAOA gene polymorphism in girls, but not boys. Girls with 4/4 genotypes displayed significantly higher regulation than girls with 3/3 and 3/4 genotypes. The present study provided evidence for gender differences on the role of MAOA gene polymorphism in socioemotional functioning in the early years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2011
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