Serotonergic sensitivity alleles moderate relations between attachment security at age three and socioemotional competence at age five

Abstract

Children with higher socioemotional competence are more likely to build constructive relationships with others and experience more positive adjustment outcomes in later periods. Securely attached children are likely to develop better socioemotional competence, but genetic moderation of associations between attachment and later socioemotional competence has received less attention. Using structural equation modeling, this study analyzed data collected from 1,337 children (51% male) born from 1998 to 2000 in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study. The results demonstrated that relations between attachment security at age 3 years and their social competence at age 5 years differed by two serotonin transporter variants (5‐HTTLPR, STin2). Effect sizes of these interactions were larger than effect sizes of main effects and the benefit of having sensitive alleles was consistently supported. This implies that having more secure attachment in the early developmental period is advantageous especially for children with minor alleles who have greater environmental sensitivity.

Longitudinal Influences of DRD4 Polymorphism and Early Maternal Caregiving on Personality Development and Problem Behavior in Middle Childhood and Adolescence

“…Moreover, parental sensitivity and parental intrusiveness may differentially influence the intercept and slope of self-control development (Geeraerts et al, 2021 ). For other genetic predispositions and also for other developmental outcomes besides self-regulation, specific aspects of sensitivity or caregiving by both mothers and fathers or attachment security may well play an important role (Spangler et al, 2009 ; Zimmermann et al, 2009 ; Davies et al, 2015 ; Zimmermann and Spangler, 2016 ; Baptista et al, 2017 ; Neppl et al, 2020 ; Lee et al, 2021 ).…”