Child exposure to serious life events, COMT, and aggression: Testing differential susceptibility theory.

Hygen, Beate Wold; Belsky, Jay; Stenseng, Frode; Lydersen, Stian; Güzey, Ismail Cüneyt; Wichstrøm, Lars

doi:10.1037/dev0000020

Cited by 37 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Over the past decade, numerous reports have appeared documenting such GϫE interplay (e.g., Babineau et al, 2015;Bresin, Sima Finy, & Verona, 2013;Brown et al, 2013;Hygen et al, 2015;Hygen, Guzey, Belsky, Berg-Nielsen, & Wichstrøm, 2014); however, the GϫE field has been subjected to controversy and critique (e.g., Duncan & Keller, 2011). Nevertheless, prior research indicates that the OXTR SNP rs53576 interacts with various environmental factors in predicting diverse behavioral and psychological phenotypes.…”

Section: Gene-؋-environment Interactionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Change in parenting, change in student–teacher relationships, and oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR): Testing a gene-×-environment (G×E) hypothesis in two samples.

Hygen¹,

Belsky²,

Li³

et al. 2017

Developmental Psychology

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Prior research suggests that parenting affects children's relationships, including those with teachers, although there is variation across individuals in such effects. Given evidence suggesting that oxytocin may be particularly important for the quality of social relationships, we tested the hypotheses (a) that change in parenting from 4 to 6 years of age influences and predicts change in the student-teacher relationship from 6 to 8 years of age and (b) that this effect is moderated by a polymorphism related to the child's oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR), rs53576. In 2 studies, participants included, respectively, 652 socioeconomically diverse Norwegian children from a community sample (50.8% male; mean age of 54.9 months at first assessment) and 559 such children from 8 different U.S. locales (49.0% male; approximately 54 months at the first assessment). Norwegian results showed that change in parenting predicted change in student-teacher relationships, but only in the case of children homozygous for the A allele of rs53576 and in a manner consistent with differential-susceptibility theory: for AA carriers, when parenting changed for the worse, so did children's relationship with teachers, whereas when parenting changed for the better, the teacher-child relationships improved accordingly. Such GϫE findings could not be replicated in the American sample. Results are discussed in terms of 2 contrasting models of Person-ϫ-Environment interaction (differential susceptibility and diathesis stress) and potential reasons for failure to replicate.

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Section: Gene-؋-environment Interactionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Change in parenting, change in student–teacher relationships, and oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR): Testing a gene-×-environment (G×E) hypothesis in two samples.

Hygen¹,

Belsky²,

Li³

et al. 2017

Developmental Psychology

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“…Hygen et al found that, given a history of more serious life events, the high activity rs4680 genotype (GG) was associated with more aggression in children at a mean age of 54.8 months. 73 These findings indicate there is a greater susceptibility to poor behavioral outcomes in response to environmental adversity in children with the rs4680 COMT GG genotype. 73 Additionally, carriers of the low activity COMT rs4680 genotype (AA) perform better on tasks of dual cognitive load 74 and have increased cognitive flexibility when exposed to early childhood maltreatment 75 , as compared to other rs4680 genotypes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…73 These findings indicate there is a greater susceptibility to poor behavioral outcomes in response to environmental adversity in children with the rs4680 COMT GG genotype. 73 Additionally, carriers of the low activity COMT rs4680 genotype (AA) perform better on tasks of dual cognitive load 74 and have increased cognitive flexibility when exposed to early childhood maltreatment 75 , as compared to other rs4680 genotypes. These findings confirm the importance of considering the combined effects of genetic and environmental factors on long-term outcomes after traumatic injuries in children.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Catechol-O-Methyltransferase Genotypes and Parenting Influence on Long-Term Executive Functioning After Moderate to Severe Early Childhood Traumatic Brain Injury: An Exploratory Study

Kurowski

Treble‐Barna

Zang

et al. 2017

Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation

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Objective To examine Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) rs4680 genotypes as moderators of the effects of parenting style on post injury changes in parent behavior ratings of executive dysfunction following moderate to severe early childhood traumatic brain injury (TBI). Setting Research was conducted in an outpatient setting. Participants Participants included children admitted to hospital with moderate to severe TBI (n = 55) or orthopedic injuries (OI; n = 70) between ages 3–7 years. Design Prospective cohort followed over seven years post injury. Main Measures Parenting Practices Questionnaire (PPQ) and the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functioning (BRIEF) obtained at baseline, six, 12, and 18 months, and 3.5 and 6.8 years post injury. DNA was collected from saliva samples, purified using the Oragene (DNA Genotek, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) OG-500 self-collection tubes, and analyzed using TaqMan (Applied Biosystems) assay protocols to identify the COMT rs4680 polymorphism. Results Linear mixed models revealed a significant genotype x parenting style x time interaction (F= 5.72, p = .02), which suggested the adverse effects of authoritarian parenting on post injury development of executive functioning were buffered by the presence of the COMT AA genotype (lower enzyme activity, higher dopamine levels). There were no significant associations of executive functioning with the interaction between genotype and authoritative or permissive parenting ratings Conclusion The lower activity COMT rs4680 genotype may buffer the negative effect of authoritarian parenting on long-term executive functioning following injury in early childhood. The findings provide preliminary evidence for associations of parenting style with executive dysfunction in children and for a complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors as contributors to decreases in these problems after traumatic injuries in children. Further investigation is warranted to understand the interplay among genetic and environmental factors related to recovery after TBI in children.

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“…Although genetic tests cannot currently confirm a psychiatric diagnosis (except in the case of rare genetic syndromes) [31], and the polygenic nature of most psychiatric disorders will likely limit the predictive power of genetic results, studies to identify other genetic links to psychiatric disorders and their interaction with genetic and environmental factors are underway [13, 32]. As it seems likely that psychiatric genetic data will continue to emerge and all but inevitable that such data will be introduced in family courts, it is important to consider their possible implications for child custody evaluators and judicial actors.…”

Section: Psychiatric Genetic Data: Emerging Trends and Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

Psychiatric Genetics in Child Custody Proceedings: Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues

Sabatello

Appelbaum

2016

Curr Genet Med Rep

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This paper considers the ethical, legal, and social issues raised by the prospect of increasing use of psychiatric genetic data in child custody litigation. Although genetic tests cannot currently confirm a parent or child's psychiatric diagnosis, it is likely that as relevant findings emerge, they will be introduced in family courts to challenge parental capacity. Here, we draw on three projected, but plausible, scenarios for obtaining psychiatric data about parents -- imposed genetic testing, access to medical records, and genetic theft -- then consider the use of psychiatric genetic data of children, to highlight the issues that judges, child custody evaluators, and clinicians who may provide treatment for parents or children with mental health issues will need to consider. These include: genetic privacy, stigma, genetic surveillance, and judicial and health professionals' bias. We argue that the unchecked introduction of psychiatric genetic data may have a detrimental effect on the administration of justice. In particular, the article highlights the risk that the (mis)use of psychiatric genetic data in custody disputes would 1) exacerbate stigma and treatment-avoidance among parents and incentivize privacy violations to pressure parents to relinquish parental rights; 2) disproportionately affect poor parents and single mothers of color involved with Child Protective Services; and 3) detract attention from social and environmental factors impacting mental health to the detriment of the families involved. Awareness of these issues and an understanding of the meaning of genomic data by judges and custody evaluators will be pivotal in ensuring that justice is served.

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Child exposure to serious life events, COMT, and aggression: Testing differential susceptibility theory.

Cited by 37 publications

References 59 publications

Change in parenting, change in student–teacher relationships, and oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR): Testing a gene-×-environment (G×E) hypothesis in two samples.

Change in parenting, change in student–teacher relationships, and oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR): Testing a gene-×-environment (G×E) hypothesis in two samples.

Catechol-O-Methyltransferase Genotypes and Parenting Influence on Long-Term Executive Functioning After Moderate to Severe Early Childhood Traumatic Brain Injury: An Exploratory Study

Psychiatric Genetics in Child Custody Proceedings: Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues

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