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

H. M. Endedijk*, S. A. Nelemans, R. R. Schür, M. P. Boks, P. van Lier, W. Meeus, C. H. Vinkers, R. A. Sarabdjitsingh, S. Branje

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1082-1099
Number of pages18
JournalJournal of Youth and Adolescence
Volume48
Issue number6
Early online date25 Feb 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Jun 2019

Funding

H.E. performed the analysis with help of S.N., and drafted the manuscript. P.v.L., W.M., A.S., S.B. designed the study and coordinated the data collection. M.B., R.S. and C.V. were in charge of the genotyping and helped to draft the genetic parts of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Data of the RADAR study were used. RADAR has been financially supported by main grants from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (GB-MAGW 480-03-005, GB-MAGW 480-08-006, GB-MAGW 481-08-014), from a grant to the Consortium Individual Development (Grant 024.001.003) from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, from grants by Stichting Achmea Slachtoffer en Samenleving (SASS), and various other grants from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research such as NWO grant 863-13-021, the VU University Amsterdam and Utrecht University. Data from wave 1 to 7 analyzed during the current study are available in the DANS repository (10.17026/dans-zrb-v5wp). Data from wave 8 and 9 are not publicly available yet but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

FundersFunder number
Consortium Individual Development024.001.003
Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research
Stichting Achmea Slachtoffer en Samenleving
VU University Amsterdam and Utrecht University
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme773023
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk OnderzoekGB-MAGW 481-08-014, GB-MAGW 480-03-005, 863-13-021, GB-MAGW 480-08-006

    Keywords

    • Adolescence
    • Empathy
    • Mineralocorticoid Receptor
    • Parenting
    • Prosocial behavior
    • Stress

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