The association between abusive supervision and anxiety in female employees is stronger in carriers of the CRHR1 TAT haplotype

Abstract

• In the general working population men report less anxiety than women. • The score of anxiety is associated with the exposure to abusive supervision. • Anxiety induced by abusive supervision is influenced by the CRHR1 genotype. • CRHR1 TAT/TAT in women increases the risk of anxiety induced by abusive supervision. Previous findings suggest that exposure to social stress in the form of abusive supervision may increase the risk of anxiety disorders. In the present study, we examined the link between abusive supervision, the CRHR1 genotype and anxiety. The data was collected through a national survey drawn from the National Central Employee Register by Statistics Norway. A total of 1225 individuals returned both the questionnaire and the saliva kit. Abusive supervision was assessed with 5 items from the Tepper's “Abusive Supervision Scale”. Anxiety was measured by 5 items of the “Hopkins Symptom checklist”. Genotyping with regard to CRHR1 rs7209436 C/T, rs110402 G/A and rs242924 G/T was carried out using Taqman assay, and Phase v.2.1.1 was used to define the CRHR1 haplotype TAT versus CGG. The analyses revealed that abusive supervision was associated with anxiety. In particular, we observed a strong effect of abusive supervision on anxiety in female TAT/TAT carriers ( p = 0.000). Moreover, using TAT/TAT as a reference, TAT/CGG and CGG/CGG both showed protective effects ( p = 0.015, p = 0.001, respectively). Thus, the association between abusive supervision and anxiety was strong among female TAT/TAT carriers was stronger than among female TAT/CGG and female CGG/CGG carriers. No such gene-environment interaction was seen in men. Our data demonstrated that the CRHR1 TAT haplotype may exacerbate, whereas the CRHR1 CGG haplotype may reduce, the effect of abusive supervision on anxiety in female employees. Hence, the present study supports the theory that both gender and the CRHR1 genotype, moderate the responses to social stressors.