Background. Adverse childhood experiences have been described as one of the major environmental risk factors for depressive disorder. Similarly, the deleterious impact of early traumatic experiences on depression seems to be moderated by individual genetic variability. Serotonin transporter (5-HTT) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) modulate the effect of childhood adversity on adult depression, although inconsistencies across studies have been found. Moreover, the generenvironment (GrE) interaction concerning the different types of childhood adversity remains poorly understood. The aim of this study was to analyse the putative interaction between the 5-HTT gene (5-HTTLPR polymorphism), the BDNF gene (Val66Met polymorphism) and childhood adversity in accounting for adult depressive symptoms. Results. Total childhood adversity ( b=0.27, p<0.001), childhood sexual abuse (CSA ; b=0.17, p<0.001), childhood emotional abuse ( b=0.27, p<0.001) and childhood emotional neglect ( b=0.22, p<0.001) had an impact on adult depressive symptoms. CSA had a greater impact on depressive symptoms in Met allele carriers of the BDNF gene than in the Val/Val group (F=5.87, p<0.0001), and in S carriers of the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism (5-HTT gene) (F=5.80, p<0.0001).Conclusions. Childhood adversity per se predicted higher levels of adult depressive symptoms. In addition, BDNF Val66Met and 5-HTTLPR polymorphisms seemed to moderate the effect of CSA on adult depressive symptoms.

Latino or Spanish-speaking individuals constitute a substantial and growing population in the United States, in addition to their general presence, with cultural variations, throughout Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula. To respond to the needs of this population, a Spanish version of the Quality of Life Index (QLI-Sp) was developed. The QLI, in its various language versions, is a concise instrument for comprehensive, culture-informed, and self-rated assessment of health-rated quality of life. It is composed of 10 dimensions collated from the international literature, including aspects ranging from physical well-being to spiritual fulfillment, as well as a global perception of quality of life. Each item is to be rated on a 10-point line by Latino subjects according to their culture-informed understanding of that concept. The study samples included 60 Latino psychiatric patients (20 outpatient, 20 inpatient, and 20 partial hospitalization) and 20 Latino actively working hospital professionals. Mean time of completion was 2.4 minutes among health professionals and 3.6 minutes among patients. The vast majority of respondents (72% of patients and 1000% of professionals) judged the instrument as easy to use. The test-retest reliability correlation coefficient of the QLI-Sp mean score was .89. The discriminant validity of the QLI-Sp was documented by the highly significant difference obtained between the mean scores of the two samples selected to represent quite different levels of quality of life.

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The Multicultural Quality of Life Index is a brief and culturally informed instrument that appears to be easy to complete, reliable, internally consistent and valid.

Aims: This paper had three aims: (1) to validate a Spanish adaptation of the Modified Drinking Motives Questionnaire-Revised (M DMQ-R), (2) to explore the relationship of each drinking motive with different patterns of alcohol use, and (3) to compare the drinking motives of moderate drinkers, heavy drinkers, and alcohol abusing/dependent individuals. Methods: Two studies were carried out. In Study 1, a sample of 488 participants completed the M DMQ-R and a self-report scale of alcohol consumption in order to study the factor structure and different indices of reliability and validity of the Spanish M DMQ-R. In Study 2, we compared the drinking motives of moderate and heavy drinkers from Study 1 and an additional sample of 59 clinical drinkers. Results: The M DMQ-R demonstrated sound reliability and validity indices. Coping-with-anxiety, social, and enhancement motives predicted higher alcohol use on weekends, but only coping-with-anxiety and social motives were related to consumption on weekdays. Furthermore, moderate drinkers had the lowest scores for all motives, whereas alcohol-dependent participants obtained the highest scores for negative reinforcement drinking motives. Conclusion: The Spanish M DMQ-R is a reliable and valid measure of drinking motives and has potential for assisting with treatment planning for problem drinkers.