4.5 Article

The interplay of genetic and environmental factors in shaping well-being across the lifespan: Evidence from the serotonin transporter gene

Journal

AGING & MENTAL HEALTH
Volume 22, Issue 9, Pages 1216-1222

Publisher

ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/13607863.2017.1348467

Keywords

Aging; 5-HTTLPR; early life stress; evaluative well-being; affective well-being

Funding

  1. Focus Area DynAge of the Freie Universitat Berlin
  2. Charite - Universitatsmedizin Berlin

Ask authors/readers for more resources

Background: Converging evidence suggests that well-being plays an important role in promoting and maintaining mental health across the life span. It has been shown that well-being has a considerable heritable component, but little is known about the specific genes involved.Methods: In this study, we investigated a healthy sample (N = 298) that was genotyped for the serotonin transporter-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR). We hypothesized that 5-HTTLPR gene variation would influence well-being, and additionally investigated interaction effects with age and the environmental influence of early life stress (ELS).Results: Using multiple regression, our results showed a significant three-way interaction between genotype, ELS, and age. Exploration of this interaction showed that young subjects had decreased levels of well-being if they were exposed to ELS and homozygous for the short variant of 5-HTTLPR. This relationship was reversed in old age: subjects that were exposed to ELS and carried the long variant of 5-HTTLPR had decreased levels of well-being.Conclusion: Our results indicate that genetic and environmental factors have joint effects on well-being that are susceptible to profound changes across the life span.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.5
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available