Serotonin and Self-control: A Genetically Moderated Stress Sensitization Effect
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-2018
Abstract
Purpose: The current study seeks to examine how two widely studied serotonergic polymorphisms, MAOA-uVNTR and 5-HTTLPR, interact with early and later life stressors to explain between-individual variation in low self-control in a genetically moderated stress sensitization model (G × E × E).
Methods: Using a sample of male undergraduate students (n = 190), regression analyses were performed to examine three-way interactions of distal and proximal stress by MAOA-uVNTR and 5-HTTLPR separately, while controlling for age, race, parenting, and peer delinquency.
Results: Results suggest that MAOA-uVNTR and 5-HTTLPR polymorphisms moderate individual stress sensitization in the explanation of self-control.
Conclusion: Our findings highlight the need to study the etiology of self-control from both developmental and biological perspectives by demonstrating that molecular genetic variation related to serotonergic function interacts with distal stressors to increase reactivity to proximal stressors.
Publication Information
Boisvert, Danielle; Wells, Jessica; Armstrong, Todd A.; and Lewis, Richard H. (2018). "Serotonin and Self-control: A Genetically Moderated Stress Sensitization Effect". Journal of Criminal Justice, 56, 98-106.