title: Stressful life events moderate the relationship between genes and biased attention to emotional faces in youth.
abstract: Attention bias to emotion may be an intermediate trait for stress-reactive psychopathology associated with biologically plausible candidate genes, yet the precise direction of effects within the youth literature remains unclear. The present study investigated whether stressful life events (SLEs) moderate the link between genetic risk (5-HTTLPR andCOMT) and attention bias to emotion among youth (n= 467). Analyses revealed a differential effect of gene. Among youth who had experienced more recent SLEs, those homozygous for the low expressing allele of 5-HTTLPR (S/S) demonstrated preferential attention toward negative emotional expressions, whereas youth homozygous for the high expressingCOMTgenotype (Val/Val) showed attentional avoidance of positive facial expressions. No interaction between 5-HTTLPR andCOMTwas found. These findings highlight the importance of investigating stress as a moderator within the intermediate trait literature and suggest that biologically plausible candidate genes may have a differential effect in the pathway to psychological disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Denver.
authors.forename: Jessica L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Jenness
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Denver.
authors.forename: Benjamin L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Hankin
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology, Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, Rutgers University.
authors.forename: Jami F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Young
authors.affiliation: Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado-Boulder.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Smolen
keywords: emotion processing biases; genetics; intermediate trait; stress; youth