genetic moderation of contextual effects on negative arousal and parenting in africanamerican parents a threestage context amplification model was tested with a sample of 345 africanamerican parentchild dyads the model combined the conceptual structure of stress generation with recent findings regarding genetic susceptibility because the 7r allele of the dopamine transporter drd4 has the potential to enhance contextual priming and arousal this allele was examined as a potential moderator of each stage of the amplification process particular attention was given to the hypothesized influence of parental negative arousal on valence of parentchild interactions the literature on genetic susceptibility led to the hypothesis that drd4 would moderate each stage of the model in a for better or for worse manner the model was partially supported drd4 moderated effects at all three stages of the model and as hypothesized drd4 moderated contextual effects on negative arousal in a for better or for worse manner effects on parentchild interaction however were moderated in a for worse manner only these results indicate that parenting interactions may amplify the effects of positive and negative contexts in a stressgenerating manner and that a susceptibility framework captures the way in which drd4 moderates the impact of context on negative arousal