Abstract
Genetic predisposition of social sensitivity might affect vulnerability to develop psychopathology after early life stress exposure. This study examined whether maternal verbally aggressive behavior in early infancy interacts with oxytocin polymorphisms in developing internalizing symptoms at ages 5–6 and 11–12. In the Amsterdam-Born-Children-and-their-Development (ABCD) study, a large observational, population-based birth cohort, maternal verbally aggressive behavior was assessed in the 13th postnatal week by a self-report questionnaire. Internalizing symptoms at age 5–6 were assessed by maternal report (N = 969) and internalizing symptoms at age 11–12 were assessed by self-report (N = 750). Data on oxytocin receptor polymorphisms rs53576 and rs2268498 and oxytocin polymorphisms rs2740210 and rs4813627 were collected. If the child was carrier of rs2740210 CA/AA polymorphism, exposure to maternal verbally aggressive behavior (10.6%) was positively associated with general anxiety at age 5–6 and emotional symptoms at age 11–12 (p for interaction = 0.011 and p = 0.015, respectively). If the child was carrier of rs4813627 GG (wild type), exposure to maternal verbally aggressive behavior was negatively associated with anxiety sensitivity and emotional symptoms at age 11–12 (p for interaction = 0.011 and p = 0.022, respectively). After exposure to maternal verbally aggressive behavior in early infancy, oxytocin polymorphisms may partly determine a child’s vulnerability to internalizing symptoms.
Highlights
Since vocalizations may be as important as touch to the neuroendocrine regulation of social bonding [1], maternal verbally aggressive behavior can be considered stressful to the infant
We explored whether exposed infants carrying one of the different variants of OXT rs2740210 or rs4813627 were more or less vulnerable to internalizing symptoms, compared to exposed infants carrying the other variant
Our study shows novel evidence, suggesting that OXT polymorphisms might influence the vulnerability or resilience to develop internalizing symptoms in childhood and preadolescence, after exposure to maternal verbally aggressive behavior in early infancy
Summary
Since vocalizations may be as important as touch to the neuroendocrine regulation of social bonding [1], maternal verbally aggressive behavior can be considered stressful to the infant. The developing brain is most vulnerable for environmental influences at periods of rapid growth and development, such as early infancy. The striatum, part of the dopamine, serotonin, glucocorticoid, GABA-nergic, and affiliated oxytocin pathways, can be considered as a central entry port for processing emotional/motivational information [2]. Synaptogenesis in the striatum is most rapid between 2–4 months of age and total gray matter volume reaches adult size at about 4 months of age [7], both of which implicate the relevance of stress in this period of life.
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