Early life stress predicts negative urgency through brooding, depending on 5-HTTLPR genotype: A pilot study with 6-month follow-up examining suicide ideation

Abstract

The present study examined the interaction between early life stress and 5-HTT genotypes in predicting two risk factors for suicidal behavior – the brooding subtype of rumination and impulsivity, in the form of negative urgency – over time. Furthermore, we examined early life stress, brooding, and impulsivity as predictors of suicidal ideation over time. Participants with and without a history of early life stress were genotyped for the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism and completed assessments assessing brooding and negative urgency at baseline and 6-month follow up. Early life emotional abuse was associated with negative urgency at follow-up. We found an indirect effect of early life emotional abuse on negative urgency through brooding among individuals with 5-HTT low expressing genotypes but not among individuals with 5-HTT high expressing genotypes. Further, a logistic regression analysis revealed that negative urgency was associated with higher odds (O.R. = 16.2) of reporting suicide ideation (versus no ideation) at follow-up. Our findings suggest that brooding and negative urgency may result from the interaction between early life emotional abuse and 5-HTT low expressing genotypes. Further research is necessary to understand how early life stress interacts with 5-HTT genotypes to confer risk for suicidal behavior through psychological mechanisms.

Impulsive reactivity to emotion and vulnerability to psychopathology.

“…It is also important to acknowledge that even apart from impaired response inhibition, emotion-related impulsivity shares overlap, conceptual and empirical, with other variables that are known risk factors for psychopathology. These include emotionality per se (neuroticism, negative affectivity), and variables tied to both emotionality and cognitive control, such as rumination and impaired emotion regulation (Wray, Simons, Dvorak, & Gather, 2012; Fossati Gratz, Maffei, & Borroni, 2014; Valderrama & Miranda, 2017). This overlap is not trivial, given the extensive work relating these other constructs to psychopathology (Aldao et al, 2010; Joormann & Gotlib, 2010; Kotov et al, 2010; Sheppes et al, 2015; Watkins, 2008).…”

Beyond the dyad: the role of mother and father in newborns’ global DNA methylation during the first month of life—a pilot study

“…Both the serotonin transporter linked polymorphism ( 5‐HTTLPR ) and the brain‐derived neurotrophic factor ( BDNF ) Val66Met polymorphism were reported as moderators in the family risk‐adjustment difficulties association (Carver et al., 2011; Taylor et al., 2011). In particular, these polymorphisms seem implicated in increased risk for depression in the presence of environmental adversity (Caspi et al., 2003; Koss et al., 2018; Phillips, 2017; Valderrama & Miranda, 2017).…”

Understanding the social context of adolescent nonsuicidal self‐injury

“…Participants completed a shortened, 16-item version of the UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale (Glenn & Klonsky, 2010;Whiteside & Lynam, 2001), a self-report measure of impulsivity that includes the four highest loading items on each of four factors from the original scale: Urgency, (lack of) Perseverance, (lack of) Premeditation, and Sensation Seeking. This short form has exhibited good internal consistency in previous research related to NSSI (Glenn & Klonsky, 2010;Klonsky & May, 2010) and suicide (Valderrama & Miranda, 2017). Participants also completed seven self-report items assessing self-derogation/low self-esteem from the Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality-2nd edition (Clark, Simms, Wu, & Casillas, 2008).…”