RESUMO
This study uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to examine whether a polymorphism in the serotonin transporter gene (SHTTLPR) moderates the effects of marijuana use on property offending. The results reveal that 5HTTLPR interacts with marijuana use to predict significantly higher levels of property offending for African American females. The interaction coefficient is not statistically significant for Caucasian males, African American males, or Caucasian females. These findings suggest that marijuana use is associated only with higher levels of property offending among African American females who carry one or more copies of the 5HTTLPR short allele.
Assuntos
Transtorno da Personalidade Antissocial/genética , Crime/estatística & dados numéricos , Fumar Maconha/genética , Polimorfismo Genético , Proteínas da Membrana Plasmática de Transporte de Serotonina/genética , Adolescente , Adulto , Negro ou Afro-Americano/genética , Negro ou Afro-Americano/estatística & dados numéricos , Alelos , Transtorno da Personalidade Antissocial/epidemiologia , Criança , Feminino , Humanos , Estudos Longitudinais , Masculino , Fumar Maconha/epidemiologia , Análise Multivariada , Prevalência , Medição de Risco , Fatores de Risco , Inquéritos e Questionários , Estados Unidos/epidemiologia , Adulto JovemRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Recent research has shown that a polymorphism in the dopamine D2 receptor gene (DRD2) moderates the association between stressful life events and depression. The present study builds off this literature and examines whether DRD2 moderates the effect of violent victimization on depression. Furthermore, the current analyses investigate whether the effects of DRD2 and violent victimization vary by gender and by race for females. METHODS: Respondents from waves II and III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) completed questionnaires regarding their depressive symptoms and violent victimization experiences (n = 2380). RESULTS: Multivariate regression results reveal that violent victimization has a strong independent effect on depressive symptoms for Caucasian females. In contrast, violent victimization is only associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms among African American females when they carry at least one A1 allele of DRD2. Results also show that DRD2 has a significant independent effect on depressive symptoms for males and African American females. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that African American females who carry the A1 allele of DRD2 may be more vulnerable to the negative effects of violent victimization than African American females who do not carry at least one copy of the A1 allele. LIMITATIONS: The current study's findings may not generalize to clinical populations, adults, and individuals residing in other countries. In addition, the effects of DRD2 may reflect other polymorphisms that are in linkage with DRD2.
