Stressful Life Events, Genetic Variants and Obesity in Chinese Adolescents

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): As China undergoes rapid economic development nd sociocultural change both obesity and stress, especially academic stress and family conflicts, among Chinese adolescents have become an increasing public health problem. Chronic stress due to stressful life events or daily hassles has been linked to the etiology of obesity through involvement of dopamine and serotonin for mood regulation leading to the disruption of energy balance. A few candidate genes regulating dopamine and serotonin synthesis, release, uptake and transportation have been identified to be associated with obesity and body mass index (BMI) with mixed findings in a limited but growing body of literature. In response to the NIDDK program announcement of Secondary Analysis in Obesity, Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (PA-09-131), we propose to conduct a secondary analysis with existing genetic and environmental data to investigate effects of stressful life events, genetic variants and their interactions on depressive symptoms, food consumption, physical activity and inactivity, and obesity in a representative sample of Chinese adolescents living in Wuhan, China. We intend to (1) delineate effects of a battery of stressful life events assessed on four domains (school, family, peer and individual) on depressive symptom experience, food consumption, physical activity and inactivity, and overweight and obesity status; (2) systematically examine the potential impacts of specific candidate genes regulating brain serotonin and dopamine systems on depressive symptoms, eating, physical activity and overweight and obesity phenotypes; (3) investigate gene X stressful events interactions on depressive symptoms, eating, physical activity and overweight and obesity phenotypes; and (4) explore other potential moderating effects of gender, family harmony and perceived availability of social support with stressful events and specific genes on depressive symptoms, eating, physical activity and overweight and obesity phenotypes. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: As China undergoes rapid economic development and ociocultural change both obesity and stress, especially academic stress and family conflicts among Chinese adolescents have become an increasing public health problem. The proposed study will advance our knowledge of the joint and interactive effects of genes and stressful life events on obesity and related behaviors among adolescents, with important public health implications for improving the physical development and mental well-being of adolescents.