Christchurch Health and Development Study, Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Br J Psychiatry. 2011 Jun;198(6):457-63. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.110.086991.
Recent studies have raised issues concerning the replicability of gene × environment (G × E) interactions involving the monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene in moderating the associations between abuse or maltreatment exposure and antisocial behaviour. This study attempted to replicate the findings in this area using a 30-year longitudinal study that has strong resemblance to the original research cohort.
To test the hypothesis that the presence of the low-activity MAOA genotype was associated with an increased response to abuse exposure.
Participants were 398 males from the Christchurch Health and Development Study who had complete data on: MAOA promoter region variable number tandem repeat genotype; antisocial behaviour to age 30; and exposure to childhood sexual and physical abuse.
Regression models were fitted to five antisocial behaviour outcomes (self-reported property offending; self-reported violent offending; convictions for property/violent offending; conduct problems; hostility) observed from age 16 to 30, using measures of childhood exposure to sexual and physical abuse. The analyses revealed consistent evidence of G × E interactions, with those having the low-activity MAOA variant and who were exposed to abuse in childhood being significantly more likely to report later offending, conduct problems and hostility. These interactions remained statistically significant after control for a range of potentially confounding factors. Findings for convictions data were somewhat weaker.
The present findings add to the evidence suggesting that there is a stable G × E interaction involving MAOA, abuse exposure and antisocial behaviour across the life course.
最近的研究提出了一些问题，涉及单胺氧化酶 A（MAOA）基因与虐待或忽视暴露之间的相互作用的可复制性，这些相互作用与反社会行为有关。本研究试图使用与原始研究队列具有很强相似性的 30 年纵向研究来复制该领域的发现。
检验假设，即低活性 MAOA 基因型的存在与对虐待暴露的反应增加有关。
参与者是来自基督城健康与发展研究的 398 名男性，他们有完整的数据：MAOA 启动子区域变量数串联重复基因型；30 岁时的反社会行为；以及儿童期性和身体虐待的暴露情况。
使用儿童期性和身体虐待的测量方法，对从 16 岁到 30 岁观察到的五个反社会行为结果（自我报告的财产犯罪；自我报告的暴力犯罪；财产/暴力犯罪的定罪；行为问题；敌意）进行了回归模型拟合。分析显示，存在 G × E 相互作用的一致证据，具有低活性 MAOA 变体且在儿童时期受到虐待的人更有可能报告后来的犯罪、行为问题和敌意。在控制了一系列潜在混杂因素后，这些相互作用仍然具有统计学意义。定罪数据的结果稍弱。
本研究结果进一步证明了 MAOA、虐待暴露和反社会行为之间存在稳定的 G × E 相互作用，贯穿整个生命周期。
