# Children's Social and Academic Competence: Integrating Genetically Informed and Prevention Research

> **NIH NIH F32** · UNIVERSITY OF OREGON · 2020 · $69,426

## Abstract

Project Abstract/Summary1
 Family-based research has established a foundational understanding that parenting practices facilitate
school readiness (e.g., child social skills, academic competence). This evidence has been used to develop
prevention programs that facilitate successful entry into formal schooling. However, prevention programs
focused on school readiness are not universally effective. Programs must account for multiple contextual
factors that shape the development of social skills and academic competence (e.g., child characteristics,
parent–child interactions, peer relationships) and include genetic influences to be effective. Genetically
informed designs have the potential to contribute to the development of effective prevention programs by
providing information about the distinct genetic and environmental influences on child development in two
majors ways. The first is by accounting for genetically influenced child characteristics that have been shown to
moderate the effectiveness of prevention programs. Social skills, academic competence, parent–child
relationships, and peer relationships—all critical to school readiness—have known genetic influences.
The second is by accounting for genetically influenced characteristics that have been found to evoke
responses from parents and peers and influence the peers children select. The activities in this application
will disentangle genetic and environmental influences on children’s positive parent and peer relationships and
apply these findings to an existing prevention program. Analysis of a longitudinal prospective adoption design
will clarify gene–environment interplay by examining (1) the extent to which positive parent and peer
relationships are child, parent, or peer driven; (2) the extent to which genetic influences on child characteristics
affect positive parent and peer relationships; and (3) how positive relationships affect later social skills and
academic competence. Findings from the first study will then be used to formulate hypotheses for the second
study. This translational approach will use an existing randomized prevention program to test whether child
characteristics and/or positive relationships (previously identified as genetically and/or environmentally
influenced) serve as mechanisms of change for the development of social skills and academic competence.
Advanced longitudinal analytic strategies, including structural equation modeling and complier average causal
effect, will be used to achieve the proposed aims. The interdisciplinary approach of this proposed study will
refine a conceptual model that integrates genetic and environmental influences on child characteristics,
parent–child relationships, peer relationships, and child social and academic development. The proposed work
will also provide training in child development, gene–environment interplay, translation of findings to prevention
science, and prevention methodology. As such, it will facilitate my long-te...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9892883
- **Project number:** 5F32HD093347-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
- **Principal Investigator:** Amanda M Griffin
- **Activity code:** F32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $69,426
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-03-15 → 2021-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9892883

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9892883, Children's Social and Academic Competence: Integrating Genetically Informed and Prevention Research (5F32HD093347-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9892883. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*