Genetic Moderators of Divorce Adjustment: A Pilot Investigation

描述(由申请人提供)：这项拟议的研究调查了潜在的遗传调节因素，这些因素对离婚常见的生活压力源的心理和身体适应具有潜在的调节作用。尽管大多数人在面对离婚时都很有弹性，但有一小部分成年人会被困在通往不适应结果的道路上，这使得离婚、情绪障碍和身体健康之间的联系成为一个重大的公共卫生问题。这个项目的主要目标是收集190名最近经历过婚姻分居的成年人(156名高加索/欧洲裔美国人)的脱氧核糖核酸(DNA)，以(1)调查四种可能与婚姻分居的心理社会背景相互作用的5-羟色胺基因的候选多态，以缓和9个月期间情绪症状的变化，以及(2)研究炎症系统中可能缓和血压(BP)变化的基因对离婚特有的实验室挑战范例的作用。通过研究离婚适应的潜在遗传调节因素，这项工作可以为婚姻结束后谁过得好或不好提供新的见解。遗传流行病学和分子精神病学领域的共识是，通过改进对心理社会环境的测量，可以极大地加强对感兴趣的心理和生物终点的基因效应的研究。因此，通过仔细测量成年人对分离和报告的压力程度的心理反应，这项工作有可能加强已知的基因-环境(G×E)交互作用对心理和健康相关表型的影响。这项拟议的研究是关于G和E的相互作用如何随着时间的推移限制或促进情绪和生物恢复的第一次前瞻性调查之一。采用计划的失配设计(旨在减少参与者的自然减员)，在9个月的时间里，将在四个场合对成年人进行研究。对这种抽样方法的模拟研究表明，所提出的研究将足以检测到小G×E交互作用对情绪症状和BP反应性的影响。结合对5-羟色胺和炎症系统中基因的研究，对离婚的心理社会背景的详细评估，以及前瞻性抽样和数据分析，拟议的研究将使拟议的研究对现有文献来说是独一无二的，并有可能在一个对公共卫生具有重要意义的未被研究的领域获得高的科学成果。这项研究将有助于在情绪障碍的G×E研究中确定准确的效应大小估计，以及结合了感兴趣的基因、心理变量和生物反应模式的心身医学新出现的研究。有很多理由相信，情绪和炎症系统中的基因相互作用，会产生更多的抑郁和更高的血压反应，拟议中的研究有望为这一日益增长的研究领域做出及时和重要的贡献。 与公共健康相关：离婚是一个人可能经历的最有压力的生活事件之一，相当一部分成年人在婚姻结束后会出现可诊断的心理和身体健康问题。通过收集190名最近分居的成年人的脱氧核糖核酸(DNA)，该项目试图确定一些人是否在这种压力经历后面临独特的不良结局风险。更好地了解离婚心理压力、遗传风险和健康之间的联系，对于制定改进的预防和治疗计划至关重要。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed research investigates the potential genetic moderators of psychological and physical adjustment to the common life stressor of divorce. Although most people are resilient in the face of divorce, a subset of adults becomes stuck on pathways toward maladaptive outcomes, making the association between divorce, mood disturbances, and physical health a significant public health concern. The primary goal of this project is to collect deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) from 190 adults (156 of Caucasian/European American descent) who have experienced a recent marital separation in order to (1) investigate candidate polymorphisms in four serotonin genes that may interact with the psychosocial context of marital separation to moderate changes in mood symptoms over a 9-month period and (2) investigate the role of genes within the inflammation system that may moderate changes in blood pressure (BP) reactivity to a divorce-specific laboratory challenge paradigm. By studying the potential genetic moderators of divorce adjustment, this work can provide new insights into who fares well or poorly following the end of marriage. There is consensus in the fields of genetic epidemiology and molecular psychiatry that the study of genotypic effects on psychological and biological end- points of interest can be greatly enhanced through improved measurement of the psychosocial environment. Thus, by carefully measuring adults' psychological responses to their separation and degree of reported stress, this work has the potential to enhance what is known about the effects of gene-environment (G X E) interactions on psychological and health-related phenotypes of interest. The proposed research is one the first prospective investigations of how G X E interactions may limit or promote emotional and biological recovery over time. Using a planned missingness design (intended to decrease participant attrition), adults will be studied at four occasions over a 9-month period. Simulation studies of this sampling approach reveal that the proposed study will be adequately powered to detect small G X E interaction effects on changes in mood symptoms and BP reactivity. In combination, the study of genes in both the serotonin and inflammation systems, the detailed assessment of the psychosocial context of divorce, and the prospective sampling and data analyses will make the proposed study unique to the existing literature and one with potential for high scientific yield in an understudied area of public health significance. This research will contribute to the growing effort to identify the precise effect size estimates in G X E studies of mood disturbances, as well as newly emerging research in psychosomatic medicine that combines genes, psychological variables, and biological response patterns of interest. There are many reasons to believe that genes in the emotion and inflammation systems interact to produce both increased depression and heightened BP responses, and the proposed investigation has promise to make timely and important contributions to this growing area of research. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Divorce is among the most stressful life events a person can experience, and a significant proportion of adults develop diagnosable mental and physical health problems following the end of marriage. By collecting deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) from 190 recently separated adults, this project seeks to determine if some people are at unique risk for poor outcomes in the wake of this stressful experience. A better understanding of the associations between the psychological stress of divorce, genetic risk, and health is critical for developing improved prevention and treatment programs.