Title: The Effect of Childhood Adversity and Adult Stress on Epigenetic Processes and Adoption of a Hostile, Distrusting View of Others

• In Event: New Frontiers in Developmental/Life-Course Research

Abstract

Research in the post-genomic and neuroplastic era suggests a model where childhood and adult experiences interact across the life course to influence social schemas, gene expression, and behavior. The present study tests elements of this model through a focus on methylation of the oxytocin receptor gene and its association with a hostile view of relationships. Our analyses indicate that both childhood adversity and adult socioeconomic stress are related to methylation of the oxytocin receptor gene. Further exposure to childhood adversity amplifies the effect of socioeconomic stress on the oxytocin receptor gene. Methylation predicts change to a more hostile, distrusting view of relationships. The findings suggests a pattern of mediated moderation where childhood adversity amplifies the probability that adult socioeconomic stress will lead to a hostile, distrusting schema and this association is explained by the interaction of childhood adversity and socioeconomic stress on methylation of the receptor gene. These findings support evolutionary arguments suggesting that biological systems underpinning social cognition and behavior are sculpted in a manner that prepares the organism to deal with the characteristics and challenges of its everyday environment. Importantly, however, our findings indicate this sculpting process is not limited to childhood but continues throughout the life course.

Authors

• Ronald L. Simons, University of Georgia

• Man-Kit Lei, University of Georgia