Premium
Chronic and acute stress, gender, and serotonin transporter gene–environment interactions predicting depression symptoms in youth
Author(s) -
Hammen Constance,
Brennan Patricia A.,
KeenanMiller Danielle,
Hazel Nicholas A.,
Najman Jake M.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of child psychology and psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.652
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1469-7610
pISSN - 0021-9630
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2009.02177.x
Subject(s) - serotonin transporter , chronic stress , moderation , depression (economics) , psychology , clinical psychology , allele , medicine , psychiatry , serotonin , gene , genetics , biology , social psychology , receptor , economics , macroeconomics
Background: Many recent studies of serotonin transporter gene by environment effects predicting depression have used stress assessments with undefined or poor psychometric methods, possibly contributing to wide variation in findings. The present study attempted to distinguish between effects of acute and chronic stress to predict depressive symptoms at age 20 among 346 youth varying in polymorphisms of the 5HTT gene who had been assessed at ages 15 and 20. Methods: Interview measures assessed major acute life events between 15 and 19, and multiple interviews and questionnaires with youths and their parents at youth age 15 provided an index of chronic family stress. Lg alleles were reclassified as S. Results: Chronic family stress at age 15 predicted higher depression scores at 20 among those with one or two S alleles, and the effects of genetic moderation were significant only for females. Gene–environment interactions with acute stress were nonsignificant. Conclusions: Careful measurement and separation of the effects of chronic and acute stress, and gender, are encouraged in the study of mechanisms of the stress–depression association.