Paternal Indifference and neglect in early life and Creativity: Exploring the Moderating Role ofTPH1genotype and Offspring’s Gender

Abstract

22For further understanding the joint contribution of environment, heredity and 23 gender to creativity, the present research examined the prospective impact of paternal 24 indifference & neglect in early life, TPH1 rs623580, offspring's gender, and the 25 interaction effects thereof on creativity in five hundred and thirty-nine unrelated 26 healthy Chinese undergraduate students. Paternal indifference & neglect in early life 27 was assessed on the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) and creativity on the Runco 28 Creativity Assessment Battery (rCAB). Results showed significant paternal 29 indifference & neglect × TPH1 genotype and TPH1 genotype × offspring's gender 30 interaction effects when predicting creativity. Specifically, paternal indifference & 31 neglect in early life negatively predicted creativity in youth when individuals carry A 32 allele of TPH1 (rs623580). In addition, male individuals who carry A allele were 33 linked with lower level of flexibility compared to TT homozygote individuals. No 34 significant three-way interaction was found. Findings from the current study 35 suggested that the A allele of TPH1 (rs623580) might be a risk allele for creativity, 36 and the long-term negative influence of paternal indifference & neglect in early life on 37 individuals' creativity in youth depending on TPH1 genotype. 38Creativity is defined as the capacity for producing something that is both novel 42 and useful [1][2][3].There is a consensus in the field that creativity involves in the 43 improvement of technology, science, art, philosophy, or even all walks of life 44 [4].Previous studies indicated that creativity was the major driving forces behind the 45 progress of civilization [5, 6]. 46 Because of the central role creativity plays, there has always been a great interest 47 for psychologist on how biological and environmental factors foster or inhibit 48 creativity [7, 8]. For the biological factors, recent advances in molecular genetics have 49 permitted psychologists to explore the underlying genetic basis of creativity, and 50 several genes (e.g. THP1, TPH2) were revealed to associate with creativity [9][10][11]. 51 For the environmental factors, parenting is one of the most frequently investigated due 52 to its crucial role in creativity [12, 13]. However, results from twin and adoption 53 studies have indicated that creativity cannot be explained exactly by either gene or 54 environment [14, 15]. A growing evidence highlighted the importance of Gene × 55 Environment (G × E) interactions, in which the relationship between environmental 56 factors (e.g. parenting) and child outcomes (e.g. antisocial behaviors, cognitive 57 abilities, social function, wellbeing) might be moderated by genetic factors [16, 17]. 58 Therefore, the primary purpose of present study was to explore the interaction effect 59 of genetic and environmental factors on creativity. 60 Besides, previous studies indicated that gender difference might be attributed to 4 61 the interaction effect of genetic and envi...