Genetic moderation of environmental risk for depression and anxiety in adolescent girls

Abstract

Background: There is huge individual variation in people's response to negative life events. Aims: To test the hypothesis that genetic factors moderate susceptibility to the environmentally mediated risks associated with negative life events. Method: The Virginia Twin Study of Adolescent Behavioral Development (VTSABD) was used to study the effects of independent life events (assessed from maternal interview) on depression/anxiety (assessed from child interview) in 184 same-gender female twin pairs, aged 14-17 years, measured on two occasions. Results: There was no genetic effect on the independent negative life events studied. A significant gene-environment interaction was found using structural equation modelling. There was no effect of independent life events on adolescents' depression in the absence of parental emotional disorder, but a significant effect in its presence. Conclusions: There is an environmentally mediated effect of life events on depression/anxiety. Genetic factors play a significant role in individual differences in susceptibility to these environmentally mediated risks.