摘要：Social and behavioral research in public health is often intimately tied to profound, but frequently neglected, biological influences from underlying genetic, environmental, and epigenetic events. The dynamic interplay between the life, social, and behavioral sciences often remains underappreciated and underutilized in addressing complex diseases and disorders and in developing effective remediation strategies. Using a case-study format, we present examples as to how the inclusion of genetic, environmental, and epigenetic data can augment social and behavioral health research by expanding the parameters of such studies, adding specificity to phenotypic assessments, and providing additional internal control in comparative studies. We highlight the important roles of gene–environment interactions and epigenetics as sources of phenotypic change and as a bridge between the life and social and behavioral sciences in the development of robust interdisciplinary analyses. EACH DAY, NEW DATA accumulate to provide insights that strengthen the link between the life sciences and the social and behavioral sciences. Phenotypes that are elaborated by the social and behavioral sciences are increasingly being given detail by our enhanced identification and interpretation of the relevant genetic, environmental, and epigenetic factors of influence. The enhancement of social and behavioral science studies with biological data are integrative, 21st century science. This technology-invigorated paradigm shift looks beyond the constricting “nature versus nurture” dichotomy of causation and promises to clarify many of the controversies that emerge when similar phenotypes have diverse underlying mechanisms. Instead of the 2 intellectual traditions of biological orientation and social construction being perceived as being in conflict, we find that greater explanatory power is observed when these traditions are considered together. This kind of integrated thinking is not entirely new because it was evident among such scholars as B. F. Skinner, who saw behavior as a naturally occurring biological phenomenon of interest in its own right, functionally related to surrounding events, and subject to selection by its consequences. 1 In this context, the notion of gene–environment interactions gained significant attention during the last 2 decades, with the development of epigenetics. Epigenetic processes are heritable, and some possibly nonheritable modifications (or patterns) in gene expression that are regulated by mechanisms other than changes in the DNA sequence. 1 However, only recently have we had the necessary computational advances in place and access to raw data to recognize and quantify important genetic, environmental, and epigenetic variables, and then truly conceptualize the balanced and complementary mergers of these diverse databases. Such a merger would be, at its best, one that allows us to address both the structural and functional domains in social and behavioral science research and place this research in both ecological and evolutionary contexts. Integrative approaches that incorporate genetic and epigenetic evaluations into social and behavioral science research have the potential to tease out cross-cultural differences whose assessments may reflect, in part, the embedded social and cultural values of the researchers. 2 Increasingly, knowledge of genetically and epigenetically based functional and structural alterations can augment and enhance our understanding of the underpinnings of a range of abnormal phenotypes, and clarify the social and situational contexts within which such phenotypes are likely to arise, become reinforced, and acted upon. Disciplinarily integrative approaches can broaden the parameters of social and behavioral research, increase the power of such studies, produce extraordinarily unique and valuable perceptions that would otherwise remain invisible, and develop more sustainable public health interventions. This article is structured as an analytical essay extended with supportive case studies. We give a general overview of genetics, the environment, and epigenetics, and then emphasize the increasing importance of viewing gene–environment interactions and epigenetics as potential conduits for understanding the links among the life, social, and behavioral sciences in disease expression and its potential remediation. We then provide specific examples from the scientific literature in which genetic, environmental, and epigenetic information can contextualize and enhance our interpretations of the social processes and behavioral choices that modulate diseases and disorders of public health significance. These well-grounded examples are an effort to identify where specific biophysical information has illuminated and often transformed the working assumptions of social and behavioral scientists. Finally, we propose several health-related situations in which new information on the genome, the environment, and epigenome may usefully enhance the explanatory powers of the social and behavioral dimensions of health and disease, particularly with reference to health disparities.
