There are probably numerous reasons for the growing number of psychological studies incorporating genetic information, including falling genotyping costs, the relative ease of obtaining DNA via noninvasive methods such as saliva sampling, and increased interest from funding agencies in studies that involve genetic components [as further delineated in 2011 review “Incorporating Genetics into Your Studies: A Guide for Social Scientists” (Dick, Riley, & Latendresse, 2011)]. Human behavior clearly involves complex interactions between the individual’s genome and a myriad of environmental influences across multiple levels of analysis(Bronfenbrenner, 1994). The idea that genetics can lead to “precision medicine” – tailoring health care and treatment to an individual’s personalized risk profile – has gained widespread attention and investment(Collins & Varmus, 2015). It is widely recognized that not all children respond equally well to prevention programs; accordingly, it logically follows that some of that individual variation in response may be due to differences in genetic predispositions. This hypothesis has been born out in a growing number of studies that repeatedly find evidence for differential intervention response based on genotypes as measured across a variety of neurotransmitter systems.(Cleveland et al., 2017; Glenn et al., 2017; Russell et al., 2017; Zheng et al., 2016)
