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 language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1082-1099 |
Number of pages | 18 |
Journal | Journal of Youth and Adolescence |
Volume | 48 |
Issue number | 6 |
Early online date | 25 Feb 2019 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 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.
Funders | Funder number |
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Consortium Individual Development | 024.001.003 |
Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research | |
Stichting Achmea Slachtoffer en Samenleving | |
VU University Amsterdam and Utrecht University | |
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme | 773023 |
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek | GB-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