Differential susceptibility in spillover between interparental conflict and maternal parenting practices: Evidence for OXTR and 5-HTT genes.

Abstract

Guided by the affective spillover hypothesis and the differential susceptibility to environmental influence frameworks, the present study examined how associations between interparental conflict and mothers’ parenting practices were moderated by serotonin transporter (5-HTT) and oxytocin receptor (OXTR) genes. A sample of 201 mothers and their two-year old child participated in a laboratory-based research assessment. Results supported differential susceptibility hypotheses within spillover frameworks. With respect to OXTR rs53576, mothers with the GG genotype showed greater differential maternal sensitivity across varying levels of interparental conflict. Mothers with one or two copies of the 5-HTTLPR S allele demonstrated differential susceptibility for both sensitive and harsh/punitive caregiving behaviors. Finally, analyses examined whether maternal depressive symptoms and emotional closeness to their child mediated the moderating effects. Findings suggest that maternal emotional closeness with their child indirectly linked OXTR with maternal sensitivity. The results highlight how molecular genetics may explain heterogeneity in spillover models with differential implications for specific parenting behaviors. Implications for clinicians and therapists working with maritally distressed parents are discussed.

Specific Reaction Patterns to Distinct Positive Emotional Cues Related to Incentive Motivation in Dependence of the Taq1A-Polymorphism: Molecular Genetic Associations of Early and Late Event-Related Potentials

“…This, furthermore, supports the hypothesis of a positive influence of dopaminergic activity on the LPP in reaction to positive emotional stimuli. The findings did not reveal a significant interaction between LPP amplitude in reaction to closeness-related words and the DRD2/ANKK1 genotype, which is in line with the hypothesis that reactivity to those positive stimuli might not be associated with dopaminergic functioning but rather is associated with opioid, serotonergic, or oxytocinergic functioning [5,9,10,11,12,57,62,63,64,65]. Most importantly, effects of altered reactions to negative emotional words and their subcategories in dependence of DRD2/ANKK1 could not be found.…”

Oxytocin pathways in the intergenerational transmission of maternal early life stress

“…Among G allele carriers this association was mediated by subjective ratings of interpersonal distrust. Support for this higher sensitivity to a dysfunctional or stressful social environment in rs53576 G allele carriers was further substantiated by both observational (Burkhouse et al, 2015; Dannlowski et al, 2015; Hostinar et al, 2014; Smearman et al, 2015; Sturge-Apple et al, 2012; Windle and Mrug, 2015) and experimental studies (Chen et al, 2011; McQuaid et al, 2015; Norman et al, 2012). As examples of observational studies, it could be shown that rs53576 GG homozygous subjects with ELS exposure have a smaller bilateral volume of the ventral striatum, a key structure of the dopaminergic nigrostriatal pathway (Dannlowski et al, 2015) which is implicated in both depression risk (Nestler and Carlezon, 2006) and parenting behavior (Strathearn et al, 2009).…”

“…A very informative G*E interaction in the prediction of maternal parenting found that rs53576 GG mothers exhibit differential maternal sensitivity towards their 2-year old children, varying as a function of inter-parental conflict (Sturge-Apple et al, 2012). Specifically, G allele homozygous women under high marital strain were less sensitive in interaction with their offspring than A allele mothers, whereas under conditions of low marital conflict this pattern reversed – GG allele mothers were more sensitive than their A allele counterparts, a finding that is consistent with the concept of differential susceptibility to the environment (Belsky and Pluess, 2009).…”

Parental Serotonin Transporter Polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) Moderates Associations of Stress and Child Behavior With Parenting Behavior

“…As with previous studies of parental 5-HTTLPR and parenting behavior (i.e., Cents et al, 2014;Mileva-Seitz et al, 2011;Sturge-Apple et al, 2012), we compared parents with at least one copy of the S allele (i.e., SS/SL; 69.8%, n = 113) to those without the S allele (i.e., LL; 30.2%, n = 49). Parental genotype was coded 0 = SS/SL, 1 = LL; both measures of child-related stress (i.e., child-related stress from the LSI, parenting distress from the PSI) and both measures of disruptive child behavior (i.e., observed noncompliance, Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children-IV, ADHD/ ODD symptoms) were entered as continuous predictors and centered to avoid scaling artifacts.…”

“…Yet, in a population-based sample of mothers with relatively low family-related stress, S carriers exhibited greater sensitivity (Cents et al, 2014). Finally, a 5-HTTLPR × interparental stress interaction revealed that relative to the LL genotype, mothers with an S allele (i.e., SS or SL) exhibited greater sensitivity and less negative parenting with low stress but less sensitivity and more negativity with elevated stress (Sturge-Apple, Cicchetti, Davies, & Suor, 2012). Consistent with prioritization of biologically plausible G × E effects (Moffitt, Caspi, & Rutter, 2005), experimental evidence in nonhuman animals and meta-analytic evidence in humans suggest that 5-HTTLPR functionally influences stress reactivity.…”