The Role of Stressful Parenting and Mineralocorticoid Receptor Haplotypes on Social Development During Adolescence and Young Adulthood

Abstract

The development of social behavior could be affected by stressful parenting. The mineralocorticoid receptor, one of the two main receptors for the stress hormone cortisol, plays a vital role in adequate responses to stress. Therefore, the effects of stressful parenting on social development (i.e., empathic concern, perspective taking and prosocial behavior) may be moderated by functional genetic variation in mineralocorticoid receptor haplotypes (a combination of alleles). A group of 343 adolescents (44.3% females) was followed from the age of 13 until 24 years. Growth curve analyses showed lower levels of prosocial behaviors and a slower increase in empathic concern and perspective taking in adolescents who reported more stressful parenting. In contrast, relatively higher levels of prosocial behavior, empathic concern and perspective taking were present in combination with stress resilient mineralocorticoid receptor haplotypes. Despite sex differences in social development with earlier social development for girls, no consistent sex differences were found with regard to mineralocorticoid receptor haplotypes. The current study showed that genetic variation in mineralocorticoid receptor impacts the social development during adolescence and young adulthood.

The Role of Stress and Mineralocorticoid Receptor Haplotypes in the Development of Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety During Adolescence

“…There were no significant interaction effects between stressors and MR CA haplotype, suggesting that MR CA haplotype is equally protective in low and high stressful environments. However, a study in the same sample showed a positive effect of MR CA haplotype on prosocial behavior, empathic concern and perspective taking for adolescents who experienced high levels of stressors, and negative effects for adolescents who reported low levels of stressors (41). Such a protective effect of MR CA haplotype under circumstances of high stress is in line with the study of Vinkers et al (11) that found stronger MR CA haplotype effects for higher levels of childhood trauma.…”

Becoming Connected - Adolescent Social-Cognitive Development in the Peer Context

“…Interactions with parents also provide a safe space to learn conflict-resolution skills, as relationships with parents can be used as a model for later relationships with peers (Van Lissa et al, 2016). Adolescents who are unable to have these learning experiences, for example due to parental maltreatment, show slower development of perspective-taking abilities (Endedijk et al, 2019). Multiple studies reveal the importance of perspective taking in successfully navigating parent-child conflict, as adolescents with higher levels of perspective taking show more interest in their mother's thoughts during a conflict discussion (Lougheed et al, 2020) as well increased sensitivity in adapting their behavior to their mother's responses (Disla et al, 2019).…”