Neighborhood crime and depressive symptoms among African American women: Genetic moderation and epigenetic mediation of effects

Abstract

Introduction: Social scientists have long recognized the important role that neighborhood crime can play in stress-related disease, but very little is known about potential biosocial mechanisms that may link the experience of living in high-crime neighborhoods with depression. Objective: The current study introduces an integrated model that combines neighborhood, genetic, and epigenetic factors. Methods: Hypotheses were tested with a sample of 99 African American women from the Family and Community Health Study (FACHS). Results: Allele variants of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTT) interact with neighborhood crime to predict depressive symptoms in a manner consonant with the differential susceptibility perspective. Furthermore, this association is mediated by DNA methylation of the promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene. Conclusion: The findings provide support for an integrated model in which changes in DNA methylation, resulting from neighborhood crime, can result in an increase or decrease in gene activity which, in turn, influences depressive symptoms.