Feurer Cope, McGeary John E, Benca-Bachman Chelsie E, Gibb Brandon E
Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Providence Veterans Affair Medical Center.
J Psychopathol Clin Sci. 2025 Aug 21. doi: 10.1037/abn0001038.
Genome-wide association studies have allowed for the creation of polygenic scores (PGSs) reflecting genetic liability for depression, yet recent work suggests that these PGSs may also reflect greater genetic propensity toward higher levels of stress exposure. The current study sought to extend prior findings to examine whether an established depression PGS (DEP-PGS) is associated with greater stress exposure at the neighborhood level in a sample of preadolescent children. This study included 278 children of European ancestry between the ages of 7 and 11 (45.3% female) and their parents. Parents and children completed clinical interviews and questionnaires, and children provided genetic samples. Children's neighborhoods were defined based on their current home address, and geocoded indices of neighborhood adversity (i.e., area socioeconomic disadvantage, crime, and opportunity) were matched to zip codes. As hypothesized, children with greater genetic liability for depression, as reflected by DEP-PGSs, were more likely to live in neighborhoods characterized by greater adversity. Findings were maintained when statistically controlling for family socioeconomic status and parents' and children's histories of depression and anxiety. The current findings build upon prior research highlighting depression-relevant gene-environment correlations and extend this work to provide evidence that DEP-PGSs may capture genetic liability for exposure to stressful contexts at the neighborhood level. Future research is needed to replicate findings in diverse samples and to examine whether neighborhood-level adversity mediates the relation between DEP-PGSs and future depression risk in youth. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
全基因组关联研究使得反映抑郁症遗传易感性的多基因分数（PGS）得以创建，但最近的研究表明，这些PGS也可能反映出更高水平压力暴露的更大遗传倾向。当前的研究试图扩展先前的研究结果，以检验在一组青春期前儿童样本中，既定的抑郁症多基因分数（DEP-PGS）是否与邻里层面更大的压力暴露相关。这项研究纳入了278名7至11岁的欧洲血统儿童（45.3%为女性）及其父母。父母和孩子完成了临床访谈和问卷，孩子提供了基因样本。根据孩子当前的家庭住址定义其邻里环境，并将邻里逆境的地理编码指数（即地区社会经济劣势、犯罪和机会）与邮政编码相匹配。正如所假设的那样，由DEP-PGS反映出的抑郁症遗传易感性更高的儿童，更有可能生活在逆境更大的社区。在对家庭社会经济地位以及父母和孩子的抑郁和焦虑病史进行统计控制后，研究结果依然成立。当前的研究结果建立在先前强调与抑郁症相关的基因-环境相关性的研究基础之上，并扩展了这项工作，以提供证据表明DEP-PGS可能反映了在邻里层面接触压力环境的遗传易感性。未来需要开展研究，在不同样本中重复这些发现，并检验邻里层面的逆境是否介导了DEP-PGS与青少年未来抑郁症风险之间的关系。（PsycInfo数据库记录（c）2025美国心理学会，保留所有权利）
