TY - JOUR
T1 - Genetic sensitivity to emotional cues, racial discrimination and depressive symptoms among African–American adolescent females
AU - Sales, Jessica M.
AU - Brown, Jennifer L.
AU - Swartzendruber, Andrea L.
AU - Smearman, Erica L.
AU - Brody, Gene H.
AU - DiClemente, Ralph
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to express our gratitude to the many staff that contributed their time and energy to this project. We would like to particularly thank the young women who gave of their time to participate in the project. This research was supported by a grant, number K01 MH085506, from the National Institute of Mental Health to the first author, a Medical Scientist Training grant, number T32 GM008169 provided support for ES. JB was supported by National Institute on Drug Abuse grant number R03DA0377860. AS was supported by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism grant number F32AA022058. Also, grant number R01 MH070537, from the National Institute of Mental Health to RD, and number P30DA02782 to GB provided support for the research. Additional research support was provided through the Emory Center for AIDS Research (P30 AI050409). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, or National Institute of Health.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2015 Sales, Brown, Swartzendruber, Smearman, Brody and DiClemente.
PY - 2015/6/22
Y1 - 2015/6/22
N2 - Psychosocial stress, including stress resulting from racial discrimination (RD), has been associated with elevated depressive symptoms. However, individuals vary in their reactivity to stress, with some variability resulting from genetic differences. Specifically, genetic variation within the linked promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) is related to heightened reactivity to emotional environmental cues. Likewise, variations within this region may interact with stressful life events (e.g., discrimination) to influence depressive symptoms, but this has not been empirically examined in prior studies. The objective of this study was to examine whether variation in the 5-HTTLPR gene interacts with RD to predict depressive symptoms among a sample of African–American adolescent females. Participants were 304 African–American adolescent females enrolled in a sexually transmitted disease prevention trial. Participants completed a baseline survey assessing psychosocial factors including RD (low vs. high) and depressive symptomatology (low vs. high) and provided a saliva sample for genotyping the risk polymorphism 5-HTTLPR (s allele present vs. not present). In a logistic regression model adjusting for psychosocial correlates of depressive symptoms, an interaction between RD and 5-HTTLPR group was significantly associated with depressive symptomatology (AOR = 3.79, 95% CI: 1.20–11.98, p = 0.02). Follow-up tests found that high RD was significantly associated with greater odds of high depressive symptoms only for participants with the s allele. RD and 5-HTTLPR status interact to differentially impact depressive symptoms among African–American adolescent females. Efforts to decrease depression among minority youth should include interventions which address RD and strengthen factors (e.g., coping, emotion regulation, building support systems) which protect youth from the psychological costs of discrimination.
AB - Psychosocial stress, including stress resulting from racial discrimination (RD), has been associated with elevated depressive symptoms. However, individuals vary in their reactivity to stress, with some variability resulting from genetic differences. Specifically, genetic variation within the linked promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) is related to heightened reactivity to emotional environmental cues. Likewise, variations within this region may interact with stressful life events (e.g., discrimination) to influence depressive symptoms, but this has not been empirically examined in prior studies. The objective of this study was to examine whether variation in the 5-HTTLPR gene interacts with RD to predict depressive symptoms among a sample of African–American adolescent females. Participants were 304 African–American adolescent females enrolled in a sexually transmitted disease prevention trial. Participants completed a baseline survey assessing psychosocial factors including RD (low vs. high) and depressive symptomatology (low vs. high) and provided a saliva sample for genotyping the risk polymorphism 5-HTTLPR (s allele present vs. not present). In a logistic regression model adjusting for psychosocial correlates of depressive symptoms, an interaction between RD and 5-HTTLPR group was significantly associated with depressive symptomatology (AOR = 3.79, 95% CI: 1.20–11.98, p = 0.02). Follow-up tests found that high RD was significantly associated with greater odds of high depressive symptoms only for participants with the s allele. RD and 5-HTTLPR status interact to differentially impact depressive symptoms among African–American adolescent females. Efforts to decrease depression among minority youth should include interventions which address RD and strengthen factors (e.g., coping, emotion regulation, building support systems) which protect youth from the psychological costs of discrimination.
KW - 5-HTTLPR
KW - adolescents
KW - depressive symptoms
KW - genetic sensitivity
KW - racial discrimination
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U2 - 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00854
DO - 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00854
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85049760767
SN - 1664-1078
VL - 6
JO - Frontiers in Psychology
JF - Frontiers in Psychology
M1 - 854
ER -