Interaction Between5-HTTLPR And Stress Predicts Anxiety Symptoms:A Multi-wave Longitudinal Study

Object (1) To examine whether Serotonin Transporter Gene Promoter Region Polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) is directly associated with anxiety symptoms of adolescents:(2) To explore interaction between5-HTTLPR and stressful life events in predicting anxiety symptoms of adolescents.Methods A total of252students were selected randomly from a public high school in Changsha and were conducted9times follow-up assessments during2years. At initial assessment, all the participants completed the Adolescent Life Events Questionnaire (ALEQ) and Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC) to assess their anxiety symptoms and levels of stress.5ml of venous blood of each participant was collected during the initial assessment to extract genomic DNA and identify5-HTTLPR genotype. Every participant completed MASC and ALEQ every three months for the subsequent2years. Hierarchical Linear Model (HLM) was used for statistical analyses.Results The results of HLM analyses indicated:(1) the main effects of stress were significant both in males (β=0.30,p<0.01) and females (β=0.33,p<0.01);(2) No significant main effect of5-HTTLPR was found either in males (β=0.80, p>0.05) or in females (β=-0.21, p>0.05);(3) There is a significant interaction between5-HTTLPR and stress, females with at least one5-HTTLPR S allele (β=0.11, p<0.01) and males with at least one5-HTTLPR L allele (β=-0.10,p<0.01) exhibited more anxiety symptoms under stressful situations.Conclusion Interaction between5-HTTLPR and stress can predict anxiety symptoms in adolescents. There are gender differences on the5-HTTLPR x stress interaction.