Department of Psychology I, Julius-Maximilians-University, Würzburg, Germany.
Emotion. 2012 Jun;12(3):460-9. doi: 10.1037/a0026674. Epub 2012 Feb 6.
People strongly differ in their emotional reactions to potentially stressing and challenging environmental circumstances. Two classes of individual differences have independently been reported to contribute to such emotional vulnerability: an attentional bias to negative information and a variation in the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR). The present study was conducted to investigate the possibility that these cognitive and genetic markers interact in their prospective prediction of emotional reactivity to an extended and mild potential stressor. Changes in dysphoria and anxiety across their first university semester were measured in 120 students. Results indicate that attentional bias toward negative information on Week 1 of the semester significantly predicted cross-semester changes in both anxiety and dysphoria. For the latter, this predictive capacity depended on the 5-HTTLPR genotype. Specifically, only in homozygous carriers of the 5-HTTLPR short allele did attentional bias to negative information on Week 1 significantly predict cross-semester change in dysphoria. These results carry important theoretical and practical implications concerning the ability to identify individuals vulnerable to experiencing elevated emotional reactivity to potentially stressing life-events.
人们在对潜在的压力和挑战性的环境情况的情绪反应方面存在强烈的差异。已经独立报道了两类个体差异对这种情绪脆弱性有贡献：对负面信息的注意力偏向和 5-羟色胺转运体基因（5-HTTLPR）的变异。本研究旨在探讨这些认知和遗传标记是否存在相互作用，从而在对延长和温和的潜在压力源的情绪反应的前瞻性预测中具有相互作用。在 120 名学生中测量了他们在大学第一个学期中抑郁和焦虑的变化。结果表明，在学期第一周对负面信息的注意力偏向显著预测了焦虑和抑郁的跨学期变化。对于后者，这种预测能力取决于 5-HTTLPR 基因型。具体来说，只有在 5-HTTLPR 短等位基因的纯合子携带者中，在第一周对负面信息的注意力偏向才会显著预测抑郁的跨学期变化。这些结果对于识别易受潜在压力生活事件引起的情绪反应升高的个体的能力具有重要的理论和实践意义。
