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Influence of 5-HTT variation, childhood trauma and self-efficacy on anxiety traits: a gene-environment-coping interaction study

  • Psychiatry and Preclinical Psychiatric Studies - Original Article
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Abstract

Environmental vulnerability factors such as adverse childhood experiences in interaction with genetic risk variants, e.g., the serotonin transporter gene linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR), are assumed to play a role in the development of anxiety and affective disorders. However, positive influences such as general self-efficacy (GSE) may exert a compensatory effect on genetic disposition, environmental adversity, and anxiety traits. We, thus, assessed childhood trauma (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, CTQ) and GSE in 678 adults genotyped for 5-HTTLPR/rs25531 and their interaction on agoraphobic cognitions (Agoraphobic Cognitions Questionnaire, ACQ), social anxiety (Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, LSAS), and trait anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, STAI-T). The relationship between anxiety traits and childhood trauma was moderated by self-efficacy in 5-HTTLPR/rs25531 LALA genotype carriers: LALA probands maltreated as children showed high anxiety scores when self-efficacy was low, but low anxiety scores in the presence of high self-efficacy despite childhood maltreatment. Our results extend previous findings regarding anxiety-related traits showing an interactive relationship between 5-HTT genotype and adverse childhood experiences by suggesting coping-related measures to function as an additional dimension buffering the effects of a gene-environment risk constellation. Given that anxiety disorders manifest already early in childhood, this insight could contribute to the improvement of psychotherapeutic interventions by including measures strengthening self-efficacy and inform early targeted preventive interventions in at-risk populations, particularly within the crucial time window of childhood and adolescence.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge excellent technical help by C. Gagel.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center of Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University of Würzburg, Füchsleinstrasse 15, 97080, Würzburg, Germany

    Miriam A. Schiele, Christiane Ziegler, Christoph Schartner, Brigitte Schmidt, Heike Weber, Jürgen Deckert & Katharina Domschke

  2. Department of Psychology (Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy), University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

    Miriam A. Schiele & Paul Pauli

  3. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Münster, Münster, Germany

    Karoline Holitschke

  4. Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany

    Heike Weber & Andreas Reif

  5. Center of Mental Health, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

    Marcel Romanos

  6. kbo-Inn-Salzach-Hospital, Wasserburg am Inn, Germany

    Peter Zwanzger

  7. Department of Psychiatry und Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany

    Peter Zwanzger

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  1. Miriam A. Schiele
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  2. Christiane Ziegler
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  4. Christoph Schartner
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  11. Jürgen Deckert
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  12. Katharina Domschke
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Correspondence to Katharina Domschke.

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This study was supported by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; SFB-TRR58, projects B01 to PP, C02 to KD and JD, and Z02 to JD, AR, MR and PP).

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Schiele, M.A., Ziegler, C., Holitschke, K. et al. Influence of 5-HTT variation, childhood trauma and self-efficacy on anxiety traits: a gene-environment-coping interaction study. J Neural Transm 123, 895–904 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-016-1564-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-016-1564-z

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