ABSTRACT
The question of whether children evoke social experiences from parents and others has been posed both by critics of socialization research (Bell, 1968; Bell & Harper, 1977) and by developmental behavior geneticists (Plomin, DeFries, & Loehlin, 1977; Scarr & McCartney, 1983). Critics of socialization research argue that there are reciprocal influences within parent–child relationships. Developmental behavior geneticists argue that child effects on adults reflect a process of genotype -→ environment effects. More specifically, genetic predispositions of children are hypothesized to be systematically associated with the environments children evoke and actively seek out. Recent theory along these two lines has led to an increased interest in child effects on adults.
