Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder.
Biol Psychiatry. 2014 Jan 1;75(1):25-30. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2013.03.028. Epub 2013 May 28.
Maltreatment by an adult or caregiver during childhood is a prevalent and important predictor of antisocial behaviors in adulthood. A functional promoter polymorphism in the monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene has been implicated as a moderating factor in the relationship between childhood maltreatment and antisocial behaviors. Although there have been numerous attempts at replicating this observation, results remain inconclusive.
We examined this gene-environment interaction hypothesis in a sample of 3356 white and 960 black men (aged 24-34) participating in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.
Primary analysis indicated that childhood maltreatment was a significant risk factor for later behaviors that violate rules and the rights of others (p < .05), there were no main effects of MAOA genotype, and MAOA genotype was not a significant moderator of the relationship between maltreatment and antisocial behaviors in our white sample. Post hoc analyses identified a similar pattern of results among our black sample in which maltreatment was not a significant predictor of antisocial behavior. Post hoc analyses also revealed a main effect of MAOA genotype on having a disposition toward violence in both samples and for violent convictions among our black sample. None of these post hoc findings, however, survived correction for multiple testing (p > .05). Power analyses indicated that these results were not due to insufficient statistical power.
We could not confirm the hypothesis that MAOA genotype moderates the relationship between childhood maltreatment and adult antisocial behaviors.
儿童时期遭受成人或照顾者的虐待是成年后反社会行为的一个普遍且重要的预测因素。单胺氧化酶 A（MAOA）基因中的功能性启动子多态性被认为是儿童期虐待与反社会行为之间关系的调节因素。尽管已经有许多尝试来复制这一观察结果，但结果仍不确定。
我们在参与国家青少年健康纵向研究的 3356 名白人和 960 名黑人男性（年龄在 24-34 岁之间）样本中检验了这一基因-环境相互作用假设。
主要分析表明，儿童期虐待是日后违反规则和他人权利的行为的一个重要危险因素（p<.05），MAOA 基因型没有主效应，MAOA 基因型也不是我们白人样本中虐待与反社会行为关系的显著调节因素。事后分析表明，我们的黑人样本中也存在类似的结果，即虐待不是反社会行为的显著预测因素。事后分析还表明，MAOA 基因型对两个样本中的暴力倾向以及我们的黑人样本中的暴力犯罪有主要影响。然而，这些事后发现都没有通过多重检验校正（p>.05）。功效分析表明，这些结果不是由于统计功效不足所致。
我们不能证实 MAOA 基因型调节儿童期虐待与成年反社会行为之间关系的假设。
