Youth and Family, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU), Utrecht, The Netherlands.
J Youth Adolesc. 2019 Jun;48(6):1082-1099. doi: 10.1007/s10964-019-00988-2. Epub 2019 Feb 25.
The development of social behavior could be affected by stressful parenting. The mineralocorticoid receptor, one of the two main receptors for the stress hormone cortisol, plays a vital role in adequate responses to stress. Therefore, the effects of stressful parenting on social development (i.e., empathic concern, perspective taking and prosocial behavior) may be moderated by functional genetic variation in mineralocorticoid receptor haplotypes (a combination of alleles). A group of 343 adolescents (44.3% females) was followed from the age of 13 until 24 years. Growth curve analyses showed lower levels of prosocial behaviors and a slower increase in empathic concern and perspective taking in adolescents who reported more stressful parenting. In contrast, relatively higher levels of prosocial behavior, empathic concern and perspective taking were present in combination with stress resilient mineralocorticoid receptor haplotypes. Despite sex differences in social development with earlier social development for girls, no consistent sex differences were found with regard to mineralocorticoid receptor haplotypes. The current study showed that genetic variation in mineralocorticoid receptor impacts the social development during adolescence and young adulthood.
社会行为的发展可能会受到压力性育儿的影响。应激激素皮质醇的两种主要受体之一——盐皮质激素受体，在适当应对压力方面起着至关重要的作用。因此，应激性育儿对社会发展（即同理心关注、换位思考和亲社会行为）的影响可能受到盐皮质激素受体单倍型（等位基因组合）的功能性遗传变异的调节。一组 343 名青少年（44.3%为女性）从 13 岁一直随访到 24 岁。生长曲线分析表明，报告压力性育儿较多的青少年表现出较低的亲社会行为水平，同理心关注和换位思考的增长速度也较慢。相比之下，在具有抗压能力的盐皮质激素受体单倍型的情况下，亲社会行为、同理心关注和换位思考的水平相对较高。尽管存在性别差异，但女孩的社会发展更早，而在盐皮质激素受体单倍型方面没有发现一致的性别差异。本研究表明，盐皮质激素受体的遗传变异会影响青少年和年轻成年人的社会发展。
