Background. Adverse childhood experiences have been described as one of the major environmental risk factors for depressive disorder. Similarly, the deleterious impact of early traumatic experiences on depression seems to be moderated by individual genetic variability. Serotonin transporter (5-HTT) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) modulate the effect of childhood adversity on adult depression, although inconsistencies across studies have been found. Moreover, the generenvironment (GrE) interaction concerning the different types of childhood adversity remains poorly understood. The aim of this study was to analyse the putative interaction between the 5-HTT gene (5-HTTLPR polymorphism), the BDNF gene (Val66Met polymorphism) and childhood adversity in accounting for adult depressive symptoms. Results. Total childhood adversity ( b=0.27, p<0.001), childhood sexual abuse (CSA ; b=0.17, p<0.001), childhood emotional abuse ( b=0.27, p<0.001) and childhood emotional neglect ( b=0.22, p<0.001) had an impact on adult depressive symptoms. CSA had a greater impact on depressive symptoms in Met allele carriers of the BDNF gene than in the Val/Val group (F=5.87, p<0.0001), and in S carriers of the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism (5-HTT gene) (F=5.80, p<0.0001).Conclusions. Childhood adversity per se predicted higher levels of adult depressive symptoms. In addition, BDNF Val66Met and 5-HTTLPR polymorphisms seemed to moderate the effect of CSA on adult depressive symptoms.

Individuals exposed to childhood abuse are more likely to report positive psychotic-like experiences. Met carriers reported more positive psychotic-like experiences when exposed to childhood abuse than did individuals carrying the Val/Val genotype. Therefore, the observed gene-environment interaction effect may be partially responsible for individual variation in response to childhood abuse.

Aims: This paper had three aims: (1) to validate a Spanish adaptation of the Modified Drinking Motives Questionnaire-Revised (M DMQ-R), (2) to explore the relationship of each drinking motive with different patterns of alcohol use, and (3) to compare the drinking motives of moderate drinkers, heavy drinkers, and alcohol abusing/dependent individuals. Methods: Two studies were carried out. In Study 1, a sample of 488 participants completed the M DMQ-R and a self-report scale of alcohol consumption in order to study the factor structure and different indices of reliability and validity of the Spanish M DMQ-R. In Study 2, we compared the drinking motives of moderate and heavy drinkers from Study 1 and an additional sample of 59 clinical drinkers. Results: The M DMQ-R demonstrated sound reliability and validity indices. Coping-with-anxiety, social, and enhancement motives predicted higher alcohol use on weekends, but only coping-with-anxiety and social motives were related to consumption on weekdays. Furthermore, moderate drinkers had the lowest scores for all motives, whereas alcohol-dependent participants obtained the highest scores for negative reinforcement drinking motives. Conclusion: The Spanish M DMQ-R is a reliable and valid measure of drinking motives and has potential for assisting with treatment planning for problem drinkers.

Background: Sher, Grekin, and Williams (2005) pointed out the existence of 4 main etiological, but not mutually exclusive, models that might explain the development of alcohol use and misuse. The aim of the present study was to explore 3 of these 4 pathways in which psychological (personality and drinking motives) and environmental (child maltreatment) variables may play a relevant role: positive affect regulation, negative affect regulation, and deviance proneness.Methods: Three hundred and fourteen young adults in the 18 to 29 year age range completed different personality, alcohol use, and child maltreatment questionnaires at Time 1. Five years later, they responded to drinking motives, antisocial behavior, alcohol use, and alcohol-related problems questionnaires.Results: The path analyses showed that emotional abuse predicted negative emotionality, which, in turn, prospectively predicted alcohol-related problems through coping-with-depression drinking motives (negative affect regulation). Emotional neglect predicted lesser positive emotionality, and physical abuse predicted unconscientious disinhibition personality characteristics. In turn, these 2 broad personality domains predicted drinking at weekends at Time 2 through enhancement drinking motives (positive affect regulation). Finally, physical neglect predicted disagreeable disinhibition, and both disinhibition domains directly predicted antisocial behavior 5 years later which, in turn, predicted drinking at weekends, drinking on weekdays, and alcohol-related problems (deviance proneness).Conclusions: The findings describe the specific role of distal (maltreatment and personality) and more proximal (antisocial behavior and drinking motives) variables in the different pathways involved in the development of alcohol use and misuse.

Registro de acceso restringido Este recurso no está disponible en acceso abierto por política de la editorial. No obstante, se puede acceder al texto completo desde la Universitat Jaume I o si el usuario cuenta con suscripción. Registre d'accés restringit Aquest recurs no està disponible en accés obert per política de l'editorial. No obstant això, es pot accedir al text complet des de la Universitat Jaume I o si l'usuari compta amb subscripció. Restricted access item This item isn't open access because of publisher's policy. The full--text version is only available from Jaume I University or if the user has a running suscription to the publisher's contents.

Objective To test whether the association between childhood abuse, cannabis use and psychotic experiences (PEs) was moderated by the COMT (catechol‐O‐methyltransferase) gene. Method Psychotic experiences (PEs), childhood abuse, cannabis use and COMT Val158Met genotypes were assessed in 533 individuals from the general population. Data were analysed hierarchically by means of multiple linear regression models. Results Childhood abuse showed a significant main effect on both positive (β = 0.09; SE = 0.04; P = 0.047) and negative PEs (β = 0.11; SE = 0.05; P = 0.038). A significant three‐way interaction effect was found among childhood abuse, cannabis use and the COMT gene on positive PEs (β = −0.30; SE = 0.11; P = 0.006). This result suggests that COMT genotypes and cannabis use only influenced PE scores among individuals exposed to childhood abuse. Furthermore, exposure to childhood abuse and cannabis use increased PE scores in Val carriers. However, in individuals exposed to childhood abuse but who did not use cannabis, PEs increased as a function of the Met allele copies of the COMT gene. Conclusion Cannabis use after exposure to childhood abuse may have opposite effects on the risk of PEs, depending on the COMT genotypes providing evidence for a qualitative interaction. Val carriers exposed to childhood abuse are vulnerable to the psychosis‐inducing effects of cannabis.

Objective: The aims of this study were to test the individual association of the 5-HTT, BDNF, and GABRA6 genes with anxiety-related traits and to explore putative GxG interactions in a healthy sample. Method: A sample of 937 individuals from the general population completed the TCI questionnaire; a subsample of 553 individuals also filled in a brief version of the NEO inventory. The whole sample was genotyped for the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism (5-HTT gene), the Val66Met polymorphism (BDNF gene) and the T1521C polymorphism (GABRA6 gene). Results: Individuals carrying the TTgenotype of the T1512C polymorphism presented slightly higher scores for Harm Avoidance ( HA ) than C allele carriers (F=2.96, p=0.051). In addition, there was a significant GxG interaction on HA between the 5-HTTLPR and Val66Met polymorphisms (F=3.4, p=0.009). Conclusion: GABRA6 emerges as a putative gene may be involved in the variability of HA. The effect of a significant GxG interaction between the 5-HTT and BDNF genes on HA could explain part of the genetic basis underlying anxiety-related traits.

Acknowledgments: