title: Differential influence of 5-HTTLPR - polymorphism and COMT Val158Met - polymorphism on emotion perception and regulation in healthy women.
abstract: Converging evidence indicates that a considerable amount of variance in self-estimated emotional competency can be directly attributed to genetic factors. The current study examined the associations between the polymorphisms of the Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT Met158Val) and the serotonin transporter (5-HTTLPR) and specific measures of the self-estimated effectiveness of an individual's emotion perception and regulation. Emotional competence was measured in a large sample of 289 healthy women by using the Self-report Emotional Ability Scale (SEAS), which includes two subscales for the assessment of emotion perception and regulation in the intra-personal domain and two subscales for the assessment of emotion perception and regulation in the inter-personal domain. Participants' reports of effective emotion regulation in everyday life were associated with the COMT Met-allele, with women homozygous for the Val-allele scoring lowest on this scale. Self-estimated effectiveness of emotion perception of the individual's own emotions was related to the 5-HTTLPR. Both homozygous groups (s/s and l/l) rated their intra-personal emotion perception less effective than participants in the heterozygous s/l group. Taken together, the results indicate that genetic variants of the COMT and 5HTTLPR genes are differentially associated with specific measures of the self-estimated effectiveness of an individual's emotion perception and regulation in the intra-personal domain.
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Psychology,Biological Psychology Unit,University of Graz,Austria.
authors.forename: Elisabeth M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Psychology,Biological Psychology Unit,University of Graz,Austria.
authors.forename: H Harald
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Freudenthaler
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Psychology,Biological Psychology Unit,University of Graz,Austria.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fink
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Psychology,Biological Psychology Unit,University of Graz,Austria.
authors.forename: Eva M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Reiser
authors.affiliation: 2Institute of Legal Medicine,Innsbruck Medical University,Innsbruck,Austria.
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Niederstätter
authors.affiliation: 2Institute of Legal Medicine,Innsbruck Medical University,Innsbruck,Austria.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nagl
authors.affiliation: 2Institute of Legal Medicine,Innsbruck Medical University,Innsbruck,Austria.
authors.forename: Walther
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Parson
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Psychology,Biological Psychology Unit,University of Graz,Austria.
authors.forename: Ilona
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Papousek
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002394:Catechol O-Methyltransferase / Q000235:genetics*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008715:Methionine / Q000235:genetics; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D011594:Psychometrics; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014633:Valine / Q000235:genetics; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; D008715:Methionine; D002394:Catechol O-Methyltransferase; D014633:Valine