Catechol-O-Methyltransferase Gene Val158Met Polymorphism Moderates the Effect of Social Exclusion and Inclusion on Aggression in Men: Findings From a Mixed Experimental Design.

Meiping Wang,Andrew Haddon Kemp,Wenxin Zhang,Pian Chen,Hang Li

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.622914

Meiping Wang, Andrew Haddon Kemp + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.622914

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Abstract

Accumulating research has identified the interactive effects of catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene Val158Met polymorphism and environmental factors on aggression. However, available evidence was mainly based upon correlational design, which yields mixed findings concerning who (Val vs. Met carriers) are more affected by environmental conditions and has been challenged for the low power of analyses on gene–environment interaction. Drawing on a mixed design, we scrutinized how COMT Val158Met polymorphism (between-group variable) impacts on aggression, assessed by hostility, aggressive motivation, and aggressive behavior, under different social conditions (exclusion vs. inclusion, within-group variable) in a sample of 70 Chinese male undergraduate students. We found that both Val/Val homozygote and Met alleles carriers showed differences in the feelings of hostility and aggressive motivation under conditions of exclusion versus inclusion, but these differences were more pronounced for Met allele carriers. These findings implied that COMT Val158Met polymorphism did not respond to environmental stimuli in an all-or-none way and shed light on the importance of examining the gene–environment interaction using a mixed design.

Highlights

Aggression is a serious and pervasive societal problem throughout the world (Anholt and Mackay, 2012)
Social inclusion could reduce the risk of aggression; for example, DeWall et al (2010) designed two experiments to assess the association between social inclusion and aggression, and both the results indicated that the level of aggression significantly decreased as the acceptance from others increased
To confirm whether the experimental manipulation was successful, we examined the difference in the emotional state during social exclusion and inclusion after Cyberball game: Independent t-tests showed that the participants in the exclusion group felt more angry and ignored after the experimental manipulation [the first measurement: Mexclusion = 2.97, SD = 0.86, Minclusion = 3.80, SD = 0.96, t(68) = −3.80, P < 0.001; the second measurement: Mexclusion = 3.03, SD = 0.95, Minclusion = 4.00, SD = 0.73, t(63.54) = −4.79, P < 0.001] than those in inclusion group, which meant that the experimental manipulation was effective

Summary

Introduction

Aggression is a serious and pervasive societal problem throughout the world (Anholt and Mackay, 2012). A rapidly proliferating body of research has demonstrated that the interaction of catechol-Omethyltransferase (COMT) gene and certain environments were associated with aggression (Albaugh et al, 2010; Laucht et al, 2012; Hygen et al, 2015; Zhang et al, 2016; Wang et al, 2018). Evidence shows that COMT gene Val158Met polymorphism plays a moderating role in the association between environmental factors and aggression (Bhakta et al, 2012; Qayyum et al, 2015); findings concerning which variants (Val vs Met carriers) are more affected by environmental conditions remain unclear. There is some inconsistency regarding the interaction of COMT Val158Met polymorphism and aggression, with some studies showing the Met allele is the susceptibility gene and others showing the Val allele is more sensitive

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