Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment Relationships
This project involves an investigation into the genetic and environmental contributors to the intergenerational transmission of attachment relationships. It is part funded by the Institute for Psychoanalysis in the USA.
It focuses on the 'nature versus nurture' debate in the formation and transmission of patterns of attachment within families. That is, it investigates the role played by genetics and social environment in shaping the kinds of relationship patterns that emerge as humans grow up.
The study also examines the potential genetic and psychological factors that mediate or moderate these various attachment relationships. In other words, it looks not only at how relationship patterns emerge, but also how they change over time and why.
The research focuses on early parent-infant relationships (from the psychoanalytic perspective), polymorphisms of the COMT (Catechol-O-Methyl Transferase) [glossary] and BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor) [glossary] genes (from the molecular genetic perspective), as well as interactions between these factors. This project is being carried out by Inge Pretorius, PhD.