Highs and lows: genetic susceptibility to daily events
Why people differ in their susceptibility to external events is essential to our understanding of personality, human development, and mental disorders. Genes explain a substantial portion of these differences. Specifically, genes influencing the serotonin system are hypothesized to be differential s...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article (Journal) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
August 13, 2020
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| In: |
PLOS ONE
Year: 2020, Volume: 15, Issue: 8, Pages: 1-17 |
| ISSN: | 1932-6203 |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0237001 |
| Online Access: | Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237001 Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0237001 
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| Author Notes: | Maurizio Sicorello, Linda Dieckmann, Dirk Moser, Vanessa Lux, Maike Luhmann, Andreas B. Neubauer, Wolff Schlotz, Robert Kumsta |
| Summary: | Why people differ in their susceptibility to external events is essential to our understanding of personality, human development, and mental disorders. Genes explain a substantial portion of these differences. Specifically, genes influencing the serotonin system are hypothesized to be differential susceptibility factors, determining a person’s reactivity to both positive and negative environments. We tested whether genetic variation in the serotonin transporter (5-HTTLPR) is a differential susceptibility factor for daily events. Participants (N = 326, 77% female, mean age = 25, range = 17-36) completed smartphone questionnaires four times a day over four to five days, measuring stressors, uplifts, positive and negative affect. Affect was predicted from environment valence in the previous hour on a within-person level using three-level autoregressive linear mixed models. The 5-HTTLPR fulfilled all criteria of a differential susceptibility factor: Positive affect in carriers of the short allele (S) was less reactive to both uplifts and stressors, compared to homozygous carriers of the long allele (L/L). This pattern might reflect relative affective inflexibility in S-allele carriers. Our study provides insight into the serotonin system’s general role in susceptibility and highlights the need to assess the whole spectrum of naturalistic experiences. |
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| Item Description: | Gesehen am 20.04.2026 |
| Physical Description: | Online Resource |
| ISSN: | 1932-6203 |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0237001 |