Oxytocin receptor gene polymorphism (rs53576) moderates the intergenerational transmission of depression.

ABSTRACT: Maternal depression serves as a potent source of stress among offspring, greatly enhancing the risk of numerous adverse outcomes including youth depression. Several factors moderate the transmission of depression from mothers to offspring. However, the role of genetic characteristics in this process merits further exploration. Consistent with an interpersonal perspective on depression, the present study focused on a genetic polymorphism that has been shown to be relevant to social functioning, the rs53576 polymorphism of the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR). In a community sample of 441 youth, OXTR genotype moderated the association between maternal depression in early childhood and youth depressive symptoms in adolescence, such that youth possessing at least one A allele of OXTR who also had

SUBMITTER: Thompson SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3979470 | biostudies-literature | 2014 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature