Archival ReportSerotonin Transporter Polymorphism Moderates Effects of Prenatal Maternal Anxiety on Infant Negative Emotionality
Section snippets
Design
This research was embedded in the Generation R Study, a population-based cohort study investigating growth, development, and health from fetal life into young adulthood in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The Generation R Study has previously been described in detail (22). Briefly, all pregnant women living in the study area with a delivery date between April 2002 and January 2006 were informed about the research project by community midwives and obstetricians. Inclusion criteria were: 1) residency
Results
The serotonin transporter polymorphism, 5-HTTLPR, was not associated with infant negative emotionality and, critically, maternal prenatal anxiety, according to bivariate correlations. The latter fact rules out the possibility of gene–environment correlation being misinterpreted as GXE interaction (17). See Table 2 for the bivariate correlations between variables.
For the hierarchical regression analysis, variables were entered in three steps to predict infant negative emotionality: Step 1
Discussion
The serotonin transporter polymorphism, 5-HTTLPR, moderated the effects of maternal anxiety during pregnancy on infant negative emotionality at 6 months after birth, as hypothesized. The hypothesized association between higher levels of maternal anxiety during pregnancy and higher levels of infant negative emotionality proved strongest for individuals with two short alleles, weakest for individuals with two long alleles, and intermediate for heterozygotes. To investigate whether the significant
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