Elsevier

Biological Psychiatry

Volume 66, Issue 2, 15 July 2009, Pages 102-109
Biological Psychiatry

Archival Report
Impact of Psychosocial Adversity on Alcohol Intake in Young Adults: Moderation by the LL Genotype of the Serotonin Transporter Polymorphism

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2009.02.010Get rights and content

Background

Evidence from animal studies supports a role for serotonin transporter gene promoter polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) gene-environment interaction (G × E) in the development of excessive alcohol intake. Few studies in humans have been conducted on this topic, yielding inconsistent results. The present study aims to further explore G × E between 5-HTTLPR and exposure to psychosocial adversity on alcohol consumption in a high-risk community sample of young adults.

Methods

Data were collected as part of the Mannheim Study of Children at Risk, an ongoing epidemiological cohort study following the outcome of early risk factors from birth into young adulthood. At age 19 years, 309 participants (142 male participants, 167 female participants) were genotyped for the biallelic and triallelic 5-HTTLPR and were administered a 45-day alcohol timeline follow-back interview, providing measures of the total number of drinks and the number of binge drinking days. Psychosocial adversity was assessed at birth (family adversity) and at age 19 (negative life events).

Results

In contrast to various previous reports, a significant G × E emerged, indicating that, when exposed to high psychosocial adversity, individuals with the LL genotype of 5-HTTLPR exhibited more hazardous drinking than those carrying the S allele or those without exposure to adversity. This effect, which was confined to male participants, held both for different classifications of 5-HTTLPR and different types of adversity.

Conclusions

One explanation for the discrepant results might be heterogeneity in alcohol phenotypes. While the L allele relates more strongly to early-onset alcoholism, the S allele may be linked more closely to alcohol use associated with anxiety and depression.

Section snippets

Participants

Participants were members of the Mannheim Study of Children at Risk, an ongoing epidemiological cohort study following the outcome of early risk factors into adulthood (32). The initial sample comprised 384 children born between 1986 and 1988 of predominantly (>99.0%) European descent. Infants were recruited from two obstetric and six children's hospitals of the Rhine-Neckar Region of Germany and were included consecutively into the sample according to a two-factorial design intended to enrich

5-HTTLPR Genotype and Exposure to Early Family Adversity

The results of linear regression models testing for the impact of 5-HTTLPR genotypes and early adversity on young adult drinking behavior are presented in Table 1. Results revealed a significant interaction (as well as three trends for interaction) between 5-HTTLPR and early family adversity on drinking measures with regard to both the 5-HTTLPR LS and L′S′ classifications (for details see Supplement 1). Subsequent analysis demonstrated that the number of adversity factors present was associated

Discussion

The findings reported here add to the growing knowledge implicating genotypic variation in the moderation of the individual's response to life stress. Using data from a 19-year longitudinal study of a high-risk community sample, our results provide evidence of G × E between 5-HTTLPR and psychosocial adversity during the life course with regard to alcohol-drinking patterns of young adults. Individuals homozygous for the L allele of 5-HTTLPR showed higher drinking activity (i.e., consumed more

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