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Harsh Discipline, Childhood Sexual Assault, and MAOA Genotype: An Investigation of Main and Interactive Effects on Diverse Clinical Externalizing Outcomes

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Abstract

We studied the impact of MAOA genotype, childhood sexual assault, and harsh discipline on clinical externalizing symptoms (substance problems, adult antisocial behavior, and conduct disorder). Participants were 841 individual twins from the Minnesota Twin Family Study assessed through age 25. MAOA genotype was not associated with differences in any phenotype, nor was there a significant interaction between MAOA and harsh discipline for any phenotype or a significant interaction between MAOA and childhood sexual assault for substance problems. We found evidence that childhood sexual assault interacted with MAOA genotype to predict antisocial behavior and conduct disorder symptoms. Individuals with the low MAOA activity genotype who reported childhood sexual assault had more symptoms than individuals with either the high MAOA activity genotype and/or no history of childhood sexual assault. These findings suggest that the previously reported interaction between MAOA and childhood maltreatment may be specific to the antisocial subset of externalizing disorders.

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Notes

  1. Cell sizes for each group were as follows: high MAOA, no CSA = 554; low MAOA, no CSA = 261; high MAOA, CSA = 18; low MAOA, CSA = 8. While power considerations prevented us from analyzing males and females separately, the results shown in Fig. 1 were consistent when males and females are plotted separately. Heterozygous females, who have been removed from our analyses due to uncertain MAOA activity levels, appear at an intermediate symptom level between females with high and low MAOA genotypes. These additional Figures are available from the first author upon request.

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Acknowledgement

NIH grants DA05147 and AA09367.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Washington University, Campus Box 1125, St. Louis, MO, 63130, USA

    Jaime Derringer & Robert F. Krueger

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Daniel E. Irons & William G. Iacono

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  1. Jaime Derringer
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  2. Robert F. Krueger
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  3. Daniel E. Irons
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  4. William G. Iacono
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Correspondence to Jaime Derringer.

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Edited by Chandra A. Reynolds.

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Derringer, J., Krueger, R.F., Irons, D.E. et al. Harsh Discipline, Childhood Sexual Assault, and MAOA Genotype: An Investigation of Main and Interactive Effects on Diverse Clinical Externalizing Outcomes. Behav Genet 40, 639–648 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-010-9358-9

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