title: Gender specific gene-environment interactions on laboratory-assessed aggression.
abstract: We examined gene-environment interactive effects on aggressive behavior among men and women genotyped (short versus long alleles) for the serotonin transporter gene. Aggressive behavior was indexed via a laboratory paradigm that measured the intensity and duration of shocks delivered to a putative "employee". Half of the participants were exposed to a physical stressor during the procedure (stress) and half were not (no-stress). Participants' physiological responses were gauged via acoustic startle eyeblink reactions (startle reactivity). Results were that men with the homozygous short (s/s) genotype showed increased aggression only under stress, whereas women and men carrying the long allele did not show differences in aggression in stress versus no-stress. However, although stress exposure produced increases in startle reactivity, there were no genotype or gender differences in physiology. These results replicate longitudinal research findings confirming the interactive effects of genes and environment on behavioral reactivity and on the development of externalizing psychopathological syndromes, at least in men.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 603 E. Daniel Street, Champaign, IL 61820, USA. everona@cyrus.psych.uiuc.edu
authors.forename: Edelyn
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Verona
authors.forename: Thomas E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Joiner
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Theodore W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Bender
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D000483:Alleles; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000502:physiology; D012107:Research Design; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D012737:Sex Factors; D012919:Social Behavior; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000235:genetics*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins