Serotonin Transporter Gene Moderates the Development of Emotional Problems Among Children Following Bullying Victimization
Accepted 18 March 2010. published online 14 May 2010.
Objective
Bullying is the act of intentionally and repeatedly causing harm to someone who has difficulty defending him- or herself, and is a relatively widespread school-age phenomenon. Being the victim of bullying is associated with a broad spectrum of emotional problems; however, not all children who are bullied go on to develop such problems.
Method
We tested the hypothesis that the relationship between bullying victimization and emotional problems was moderated by variation in the serotonin transporter (5-HTT) gene in 2,232 British children comprising the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) study cohort.
Results
Our data supported the hypothesis that children's bullying victimization leads to their developing emotional problems, and that genetic variation in the 5-HTTLPR moderates this relationship. Specifically, frequently bullied children with the SS genotype were at greater risk for developing emotional problems at age 12 than were children with the SL or LL genotype. Furthermore, we demonstrated that this genetic moderation persisted (a) after controlling for children's previctimization emotional problems by assessing intraindividual change in problems between ages 5 and 12 years, and (b) after controlling for other risk factors shared by children growing up in the same family by comparing emotional problems in twins discordant for bullying victimization.
Conclusions
These findings are further evidence that the 5-HTTLPR moderates the risk of emotional disturbance after exposure to stressful events.
bInstitute for Genome Sciences and Policy, Duke University
cSocial, Genetic, and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London
Correspondence to Dr. Karen Sugden, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, 2020 West Main Street, Suite 201, Box 104410, Durham, NC 27708
This article is discussed in an editorial by Drs. James J. Hudziak and Stephen V. Faraone on page 729.
This research received support from UK Medical Research Council grants G9806489, G0100527, and G0601483, and National Institutes of Health grants MH077874 and HD061298.
This is one of several articles published in the August and September issues of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry that explores the intersection of genetics and mental health disorders in children and adolescents. The editors invite the reader to investigate the additional articles on this burgeoning area of developmental psychopathology.
Disclosure: Dr. Arseneault is supported by a Career Scientist Award from the Department of Health, United Kingdom. Dr. Caspi is a Royal Society-Wolfson Merit Award holder. Drs. Caspi and Moffitt, through the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, have applied for a patent entitled ‘Method for Assessing a Behavioral Disposition’, US Patent Office Serial Number 10/889,450. Dr. Sugden, Ms. Harrington, and Mr. Williams report no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.
ABSTRACT