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