The mediation effect of glucocorticoid receptor gene (NR3C1) methylation between childhood maltreatment and depressive symptoms in Chinese adolescents: A 2‐year longitudinal study

Abstract

This three‐wave longitudinal study examined whether methylation alterations in promoter exon 1F of a stress‐related gene—NR3C1 (NR3C1‐1F)—explained the longitudinal associations between childhood maltreatment and adolescent depressive symptoms. A total of 370 Han Chinese adolescents (Mage = 16.31 ± 1.28 years; 51.4% girls) recruited from Shandong, China were tracked from 2018 to 2020. The results showed that the severity of childhood maltreatment, especially that of emotional abuse and physical neglect, conferred risk for adolescent depressive symptoms via reducing NR3C1‐1F methylation levels. These mediation effects of NR3C1‐1F methylation did not vary between adolescent sex or NR3C1 BclI and Tth111I polymorphisms. The findings highlight how childhood maltreatment contributes to psychopathology development at a biological level.