title: Parenting moderates a genetic vulnerability factor in longitudinal increases in youths' substance use.
abstract: The authors used a longitudinal, prospective design to investigate a moderation effect in the association between a genetic vulnerability factor, a variable nucleotide repeat polymorphism in the promoter region of 5HTT (5-HTTLPR), and increases in youths' substance use. The primary study hypothesis predicted that involved-supportive parenting would attenuate the link between the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism and longitudinal increases in substance use. African American youths residing in rural Georgia (N = 253, mean age = 11.5 years) provided 4 waves of data on their own substance use; the mothers of the youths provided data on their own parenting practices. Genetic data were obtained from youths via saliva samples. Latent growth curve modeling indicated that 5-HTTLPR status (presence of 1 or 2 copies of the s allele) was linked with increases in substance use over time; however, this association was greatly reduced when youths received high levels of involved-supportive parenting. This study demonstrates that parenting processes have the potential to ameliorate genetic risk.
authors.affiliation: University of Georgia, Center for Family Research, 1095 College Station Road, Athens, GA 30602-4527, USA. gbrody@uga.edu
authors.forename: Gene H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Brody
authors.forename: Steven R H
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Beach
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Philibert
authors.forename: Yi-Fu
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Man-Kit
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.forename: Velma McBride
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Murry
authors.forename: Anita C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016487:Parenting; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: C493230:SLC6A4 protein, human; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins