Childhood Emotional and Sexual Maltreatment Moderate the Relation of the Serotonin Transporter Gene to Stress Generation (original) (raw)
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Cognitive Therapy and Research, 2000
Variation in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) has been linked to various cognitive-affective indices of stress sensitivity hypothesized to underlie vulnerability to depression. The current study examined the association of 5-HTTLPR with appraisals of naturally occurring acute life stressors in a community sample of 384 youth at elevated risk for depression due to oversampling for maternal
Genetic risk of depression and stress-induced negative affect in daily life
British Journal of Psychiatry, 2007
BackgroundA bias to develop negative affect in response to daily life stressors may be an important depression endophenotype, but remains difficult to assess.AimsTo assess this mood bias endophenotype, uncontaminated by current mood, in the course of daily life.MethodThe experience samping method was used to collect multiple appraisals of daily life event-related stress and negative affect in 279 female twin pairs. Cross-twin, cross-trait associations between daily life mood bias and DSM – IV depression were conducted.ResultsProbands whose co-twins were diagnosed with lifetime depression showed a stronger mood bias to stress than those with co-twins without such a diagnosis, independent of probands' current depressive symptoms and to a greater extent in monozygotic twins than in dizygotic twins.ConclusionsGenetic liability to depression is in part expressed as the tendency to display negative affect in response to minor stressors in daily life. This trait may represent a true de...
Causal Relationship Between Stressful Life Events and the Onset of Major Depression
American Journal of Psychiatry, 1999
Objective: Stressful life events are associated with the onset of episodes of major depression. However, exposure to stressful life events is influenced by genetic factors, and these factors are correlated with those that predispose to major depression. The aim of this study was to clarify the degree to which stressful life events cause major depression. Method: The authors assessed the occurrence of 15 classes of stressful life events and the onset of DSM-III-R major depression over a 1-year period in female twins ascertained from a population-based registry. The sample contained 24,648 person-months and 316 onsets of major depression. Stressful life events were individually rated on contextual threat and dependence (the degree to which the stressful life event could have resulted from the respondent's behavior). The nature of the relationship between stressful life events and major depression was tested by 1) discrete-time survival analysis examining the relationship between dependence and the depressogenic effect of stressful life events and 2) a co-twin control analysis. Results: While independent stressful life events were significantly associated with onsets of depression, when level of threat was controlled, the association was significantly stronger for dependent events. The odds ratio for onset of major depression in the month of a stressful life event was 5.64 in all subjects, 4.52 within dizygotic pairs, and 3.58 within monozygotic pairs. Conclusions: Stressful life events have a substantial causal relationship with the onset of episodes of major depression. However, about one-third of the association between stressful life events and onsets of depression is noncausal, since individuals predisposed to major depression select themselves into highrisk environments.
Social constraints, genetic vulnerability, and mental health following collective stress
Journal of Traumatic Stress, 2011
A repeat-length polymorphism of the serotonin promoter gene (5-HTTLPR) has been associated with depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in trauma-exposed individuals reporting unsupportive social environments. We examine the contributions of the triallelic 5-HTTLPR genotype and social constraints to posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms in a national sample following the September 11, 2001 (9/11) terrorist attacks. Saliva was collected by mail from 711 respondents (European American subsample n = 463) of a large national probability sample of 2,729 adults. Respondents completed web-based assessments of pre-9/11 mental and physical health, acute stress 9 to 23 days post-9/11, PTS symptoms, and social constraints on disclosure regarding fears of future terrorist attacks 2-3 years post-9/11. Social constraints were positively associated with PTS symptoms 2-3 years post-9/11. The triallelic 5-HTTLPR genotype was not directly associated with PTS symptoms, but it interacted with social constraints to predict PTS symptoms 2-3 years post-9/11: Social constraints were more strongly associated with PTS symptoms for individuals with any s/lg allele than for homozygous la/la individuals. Constraints on disclosing fears about future terrorism moderate the 5-HTTLPR genotype-PTS symptom association even when indirectly exposed to collective stress. Scientists have long sought to understand why some people are resilient following adversities that render others vulnerable to mental health problems (e.g., posttraumatic stress symptomatology). To explain this variability in response to stressful life events
Psychological Medicine, 2009
Background. Previous work suggests that daily life stress-sensitivity may be an intermediary phenotype associated with both genetic risk for depression and developmental stress exposures. In the current analysis we hypothesized that genetic risk for depression and three environmental exposures over the course of development [prenatal stress, childhood adversity and adult negative life events (NLEs)] combine synergistically to produce the phenotype of stress-sensitivity.
Transition from stress sensitivity to a depressive state: longitudinal twin study
The British Journal of Psychiatry, 2009
Recent findings suggest that genetic liability to depression is in part expressed as the tendency to display negative affect in response to minor stressors in the flow of daily life. 1 Thus, a causal pathway from genetic risk of daily-life stress sensitivity to the development of affective symptoms may be hypothesised. Additional support for a causal pathway from daily-life stress sensitivity to the development of depression can be obtained by assessing the within-individual association between baseline dailylife stress sensitivity and the development of future affective symptoms. We examined this issue in a large general-population female twin sample using experience sampling methodology, 1 together with prospective dimensional and diagnostic follow-up measurements of depression. In addition, since not everyone with high levels of stress sensitivity will develop depression, factors that might moderate transition to depression were examined. We predicted that indirect measures of genetic risk and polymorphisms in the genes encoding the serotonin transporter (serotonintransporter-linked or 5-HTTLPR) and the gene encoding brainderived neurotrophic factor (BDNF Val66Met) 2-5 would moderate the transition from experiencing increased daily-life stress sensitivity to future affective symptoms. Furthermore, we hypothesised that the occurrence of negative life events would moderate this transition.
Life events, anxious depression and personality: a prospective and genetic study
Psychological Medicine, 2008
BackgroundThe association between life events and anxious depression might be due to causality or to gene–environment correlation. We examined unidirectional and reciprocal causality and a gene–environment correlation model, in which genes that influence the vulnerability for anxious depression also increase the risk of exposure to life events. The effect of genes that influence environmental exposure might be mediated through personality and we therefore also examined the association between life events and personality (neuroticism and extraversion).MethodInformation on life events, anxious depression, neuroticism and extraversion was collected in 5782 monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins who participated in a longitudinal survey study of the Netherlands Twin Register. To examine causality, data were analysed longitudinally. To examine gene–environment correlation, the co-twin control method was used.ResultsAnxious depression and, to a lesser extent, neuroticism scores increas...