For individuals to understand and interpret genetic scores, they need to understand the complicated pathways by which our genes influence our lives. This requires researchers to do more to get our findings out of scientific journals and into the hands of people who can use it. I recently wrote a popular press book called The Child Code in an effort to bring behavior genetic research to mainstream parenting – to help parents understand how their child’s behavior is influenced by their genetic code, to reduce some of the pressure and judgement that often surrounds parenting, and to help parents identify their child’s unique needs. We should be able to harness the wealth of new genetic knowledge to improve lives, but it will require us to educate the public (and likely many medical professionals) about the complex ways that genes influence behavior.
