Association study of monoamine oxidase-A gene promoter polymorphism (MAOA-uVNTR) with self-reported anxiety and other psychopathological symptoms in a community sample of early adolescents.
The polymorphism upstream of the gene for monoamine oxidase A (MAOA-uVNTR) is reported to be an important enzyme involved in human physiology and behavior. With a sample of 228 early-adolescents from a community sample (143 girls) and adjusting for environmental variables, we examined the influence of MAOA-uVNTR alleles on the scores obtained in the Screen for Childhood Anxiety and Related Emotional Disorders and in the Child Symptom Inventory-4. Our results showed that girls with the high-activity MAOA allele had higher scores for generalized and total anxiety than their low-activity peers, whereas boys with the low-activity allele had higher social phobia scores than boys with the high-activity allele. Results for conduct disorder symptoms did not show a significant relationship between the MAOA alleles and the presence of these symptoms. Our findings support a possible association, depending on gender, between the MAOA-uVNTR polymorphism and psychopathological disorders such as anxiety, which affects high rates of children and adolescents.
Research Center for Behavioral Assessment (CRAMC), Department of Psychology, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Facultat de Ciències de l'Educació i Psicologia, Crta/ de Valls, s/n, 43007 Tarragona, Spain; Nutrition and Mental Health Research Group (NUTRISAM), Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Spain.
Núria
N
Voltas
Nutrition and Public Health Unit, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut, C/ Sant Llorenç, 21, 43201 Reus, Spain; Nutrition and Mental Health Research Group (NUTRISAM), Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Spain.
Estefania
E
Aparicio
Nutrition and Public Health Unit, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut, C/ Sant Llorenç, 21, 43201 Reus, Spain; Nutrition and Mental Health Research Group (NUTRISAM), Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Spain.
Victoria
V
Arija
Research Center for Behavioral Assessment (CRAMC), Department of Psychology, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Facultat de Ciències de l'Educació i Psicologia, Crta/ de Valls, s/n, 43007 Tarragona, Spain; Nutrition and Mental Health Research Group (NUTRISAM), Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Spain. Electronic address: josefa.canals@urv.cat.
Josefa
J
Canals
D000293:Adolescent; D000483:Alleles; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000235:genetics*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D018598:Minisatellite Repeats; D008995:Monoamine Oxidase / Q000235:genetics*; D010555:Personality Inventory; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000235:genetics; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D057566:Self Report
D008995:Monoamine Oxidase
Adolescents; Anxiety; Gender; MAOA-uVNTR; Psychopathology