scholarly journals Associations Among Parental Caregiving Quality, Cannabinoid Receptor 1 Expression-Based Polygenic Scores, and Infant-Parent Attachment: Evidence for Differential Genetic Susceptibility?

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amelia Potter-Dickey ◽  
Nicole Letourneau ◽  
Patricia P. Silveira ◽  
Henry Ntanda ◽  
Gerald F. Giesbrecht ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Cannabinoid Receptor ◽  
Maternal Sensitivity ◽  
Differential Susceptibility ◽  
Specific Gene ◽  
Polygenic Risk Score ◽  
Parental Caregiving ◽  
Polygenic Scores ◽  
Caregiving Quality

Attachment is a biological evolutionary system contributing to infant survival. When primary caregivers/parents are sensitive and responsive to their infants’ needs, infants develop a sense of security. Secure infant attachment has been linked to healthy brain and organ-system development. Belsky and colleagues proposed the term differential susceptibility to describe context-dependent associations between genetic variations and behavioral outcomes as a function of parenting environments. Variations in the Cannabinoid Receptor Gene 1 (CNR1) are associated with memory, mood, and reward and connote differential susceptibility to more and less optimal parental caregiving quality in predicting children’s behavioral problems.AimTo determine if parental caregiving quality interacts with children’s expression-based polygenic risk score (ePRS) for the CNR1 gene networks in the prefrontal cortex, striatum, and hippocampus in predicting the probability of attachment security and disorganized attachment.DesignProspective correlational methods examined maternal-infant pairs (n = 142) from which infants provided DNA samples at 3 months. Parental caregiving quality was assessed via the Child Adult Relationship Experiment (CARE)-index at 6 months, and attachment security via the Strange Situation Procedure at a mean age of 22 months. The CNR1 ePRSs include genes co-expressed with the CNR1 genes in the prefrontal cortex, striatum, or hippocampus, and were calculated using the effect size of the association between the individual single nucleotide polymorphisms from those genes and region-specific gene expression (GTEx). Logistic regression was employed (alpha < 0.05, two-tailed) to examine the main and interaction effects between parental caregiving quality and ePRSs in predicting attachment patterns. Interpretation of results was aided by analyses that distinguished between differential susceptibility and diathesis-stress.ResultsSignificant interactions were observed between (1) maternal sensitivity and ePRS in the striatum in predicting attachment security, (2) maternal unresponsiveness with the ePRS in the hippocampus in predicting disorganization, and (3) maternal controlling with the ePRS in the hippocampus in predicting disorganization.ConclusionThese findings offer support for genetic differential susceptibility to the quality of maternal sensitivity in the context of the ePRS in the striatum. However, the significant interactions between hippocampal ePRS and maternal unresponsiveness and controlling in predicting the probability of disorganization were more suggestive of the diathesis-stress model.

scholarly journals Parent–Infant Attachment Insecurity and Emotional Eating in Adolescence: Mediation through Emotion Suppression and Alexithymia

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 1662
Author(s):  
Roseriet Beijers ◽  
Marta Miragall ◽  
Yvonne van den Berg ◽  
Hanna Konttinen ◽  
Tatjana van Strien
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Eating ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Attachment Insecurity ◽  
Strange Situation ◽  
Infant Attachment ◽  
Parental Caregiving ◽  
Emotion Regulation Strategy ◽  
Early Parent ◽  
Caregiving Quality

Emotional eating (EE), the propensity to eat in response to emotions, is thought to have its origins in the early parent–infant relationship. This study tested the hypothesis that infant attachment insecurity results in EE in adolescence through the increased use of the emotion regulation strategy suppression of emotions and subsequent alexithymia. At the age of 15 months, parent–infant attachment security (n = 129) was observed with two abbreviated attachment measures: the shortened strange situation procedure (SSSP), and the shortened attachment Q-set (S-AQS). At the age of 12 years, children completed self-report questionnaires to assess the suppression of emotions, alexithymia, and EE. At the age of 16 years, EE was measured again. The mediation models indicated that lower parent–infant attachment security predicted increased use of suppression of emotions, which was related to increased alexithymia, and in turn more EE at the age of 12 years. These results were similar and significant for both attachment measures, and also (marginal) significant with EE at the age of 16 years as an outcome. Lastly, when parental caregiving quality was included, the models with the SSSP as predictor remained significant, but the models with the S-AQS became insignificant. These results indicated that to a certain extent, infant attachment security could predict adolescent EE above and beyond parental caregiving quality.

scholarly journals A microRNA panel compared to environmental and polygenic scores for colorectal cancer risk prediction

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Janhavi R. Raut ◽  
Ben Schöttker ◽  
Bernd Holleczek ◽  
Feng Guo ◽  
Megha Bhardwaj ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Colorectal Cancer ◽  
Risk Prediction ◽  
Risk Score ◽  
Characteristic Curve ◽  
Predictive Ability ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Polygenic Risk Score ◽  
Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽  
Polygenic Scores

AbstractCirculating microRNAs (miRNAs) could improve colorectal cancer (CRC) risk prediction. Here, we derive a blood-based miRNA panel and evaluate its ability to predict CRC occurrence in a population-based cohort of adults aged 50–75 years. Forty-one miRNAs are preselected from independent studies and measured by quantitative-real-time-polymerase-chain-reaction in serum collected at baseline of 198 participants who develop CRC during 14 years of follow-up and 178 randomly selected controls. A 7-miRNA score is derived by logistic regression. Its predictive ability, quantified by the optimism-corrected area-under-the-receiver-operating-characteristic-curve (AUC) using .632+ bootstrap is 0.794. Predictive ability is compared to that of an environmental risk score (ERS) based on known risk factors and a polygenic risk score (PRS) based on 140 previously identified single-nucleotide-polymorphisms. In participants with all scores available, optimism-corrected-AUC is 0.802 for the 7-miRNA score, while AUC (95% CI) is 0.557 (0.498–0.616) for the ERS and 0.622 (0.564–0.681) for the PRS.

Early maternal sensitivity, attachment security in young adulthood, and cardiometabolic risk at midlife

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison K. Farrell ◽  
Theodore E. A. Waters ◽  
Ethan S. Young ◽  
Michelle M. Englund ◽  
Elizabeth E. Carlson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young Adulthood ◽  
Cardiometabolic Risk ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Maternal Sensitivity

Polygenic Scores for Differential Susceptibility to Emotional Symptoms Predict Response to Cbt in Child Anxiety

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. S502-S503
Author(s):  
Thalia Eley ◽  
Robert Keers ◽  
Jonathan Coleman ◽  
Kathryn Lester ◽  
Mikael Thastum ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Child Anxiety ◽  
Differential Susceptibility ◽  
Emotional Symptoms ◽  
Polygenic Scores

Major depression as a predictor of the intergenerational transmission of attachment security: Findings from a pregnancy cohort study

2021 ◽  
pp. 000486742110607
Author(s):  
Megan Galbally ◽  
Stuart J Watson ◽  
Anne Tharner ◽  
Maartje Luijk ◽  
Gaynor Blankley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Major Depression ◽  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Attachment Security ◽  
Maternal Sensitivity ◽  
Adult Attachment Interview ◽  
Insecure Attachment ◽  
Parent Attachment ◽  
Strange Situation ◽  
Infant Attachment ◽  
Strange Situation Procedure

Objective: Understanding the relationship between attachment and mental health has an important role in informing management of perinatal mental disorders and for infant mental health. It has been suggested that experiences of attachment are transmitted from one generation to the next. Maternal sensitivity has been proposed as a mediator, although findings have not been as strong as hypothesised. A meta-analysis suggested that this intergenerational transmission of attachment may vary across populations with lower concordance between parent and infant attachment classifications in clinical compared to community samples. However, no previous study has examined major depression and adult attachment in pregnancy as predictors of infant–parent attachment classification at 12 months postpartum. Methods: Data were obtained on 52 first-time mothers recruited in early pregnancy, which included 22 women who met diagnostic criteria for current major depression using the Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The Adult Attachment Interview was also administered before 20 weeks of pregnancy. A history of early trauma was measured using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and maternal sensitivity was measured at 6 months postpartum using the observational measure of the Emotional Availability Scales. Infant–parent attachment was measured using the Strange Situation Procedure at 12 months. Results: Overall, we found no significant association between the Adult Attachment Interview and the Strange Situation Procedure classifications. However, a combination of maternal non-autonomous attachment on the Adult Attachment Interview and major depression was a significant predictor of insecure attachment on the Strange Situation Procedure. We did not find that maternal sensitivity mediated parental and infant attachment security in this sample. Conclusion: While previous meta-analyses identified lower concordance in clinical samples, our findings suggest women with major depression and non-autonomous attachment have a greater concordance with insecure attachment on the Strange Situation Procedure. These findings can guide future research and suggest a focus on depression in pregnancy may be important for subsequent infant attachment.

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