Children's Attentional Biases and 5-HTTLPR Genotype: Potential Mechanisms Linking Mother and Child Depression

Abstract

In this study, we examined the roles of specific cognitive (attentional bias) and genetic (5-HTTLPR) risk factors in the intergenerational transmission of depression. Focusing first on the link between maternal history of major depressive disorder (MDD) and children's attentional biases, we found that children of mothers with a history of MDD during their children's lives, compared to children of mothers with no depression history, exhibited greater attentional avoidance of sad faces. This attention bias was specific to sad, rather than happy or angry, faces. There was also preliminary evidence that this relation is stronger among children carrying the 5-HTTLPR S or LG allele than among those homozygous for the LA allele. Next, conceptualizing mothers' levels of depressive symptoms during the multi-wave prospective follow-up within a vulnerability-stress framework, we found evidence for a three-way child 5-HTTLPR × attentional bias × mother depressive symptom interaction predicting children's depressive symptoms. Specifically, the relation between mother and child depressive symptom levels over time was strongest among children carrying the 5-HTTLR S or LG allele who also exhibited attentional avoidance of sad faces. These findings provide initial support for role of children's 5-HTTLPR genotype and attentional biases for sad faces in the intergenerational transmission of depression.