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Serotonin Transporter Gene Polymorphisms and Maternal Overprotection Regulate Adult Social Expectations on Close Relationships

Humans are evolutionary-driven to adult mating and conceive social expectations on the quality of their affiliations. The genetic susceptibility to adverse environments in critical periods can alter close relationships. The current research investigates how the promoter region of the Serotonin Trans...

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Autores principales: Bonassi, Andrea, Cataldo, Ilaria, Gabrieli, Giulio, Lepri, Bruno, Esposito, Gianluca
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8466110/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34573145
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11091123
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author Bonassi, Andrea
Cataldo, Ilaria
Gabrieli, Giulio
Lepri, Bruno
Esposito, Gianluca
author_facet Bonassi, Andrea
Cataldo, Ilaria
Gabrieli, Giulio
Lepri, Bruno
Esposito, Gianluca
author_sort Bonassi, Andrea
collection PubMed
description Humans are evolutionary-driven to adult mating and conceive social expectations on the quality of their affiliations. The genetic susceptibility to adverse environments in critical periods can alter close relationships. The current research investigates how the promoter region of the Serotonin Transporter Gene (5-HTTLPR) and perceived caregiving behavior in childhood could influence the social expectations on close adult relationships. For this purpose, 5-HTTLPR data was collected from the buccal mucosa of 65 Italian individuals (33 males). The participants filled (a) the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) to provide the levels of care and overprotection from mother and father, and (b) the Experience in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R) to report the social expectations on the intimate relationship assessed in terms of anxiety and avoidance from the partner. An interaction effect between 5-HTTLPR and PBI dimensions on the ECR-R scores was hypothesized. Results confirmed that the interplay between the genetic groups and history of maternal overprotection predicted avoidance experienced in romantic relationships in adulthood. Moreover, both adult anxiety and avoidance felt in an intimate relationship were found to covary as a function of maternal overprotection. The present work proposes further evidence of the genetic and parental mechanisms regulating social expectations involved in close relationships.
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spelling pubmed-84661102021-09-27 Serotonin Transporter Gene Polymorphisms and Maternal Overprotection Regulate Adult Social Expectations on Close Relationships Bonassi, Andrea Cataldo, Ilaria Gabrieli, Giulio Lepri, Bruno Esposito, Gianluca Brain Sci Article Humans are evolutionary-driven to adult mating and conceive social expectations on the quality of their affiliations. The genetic susceptibility to adverse environments in critical periods can alter close relationships. The current research investigates how the promoter region of the Serotonin Transporter Gene (5-HTTLPR) and perceived caregiving behavior in childhood could influence the social expectations on close adult relationships. For this purpose, 5-HTTLPR data was collected from the buccal mucosa of 65 Italian individuals (33 males). The participants filled (a) the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) to provide the levels of care and overprotection from mother and father, and (b) the Experience in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R) to report the social expectations on the intimate relationship assessed in terms of anxiety and avoidance from the partner. An interaction effect between 5-HTTLPR and PBI dimensions on the ECR-R scores was hypothesized. Results confirmed that the interplay between the genetic groups and history of maternal overprotection predicted avoidance experienced in romantic relationships in adulthood. Moreover, both adult anxiety and avoidance felt in an intimate relationship were found to covary as a function of maternal overprotection. The present work proposes further evidence of the genetic and parental mechanisms regulating social expectations involved in close relationships. MDPI 2021-08-25 /pmc/articles/PMC8466110/ /pubmed/34573145 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11091123 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Bonassi, Andrea
Cataldo, Ilaria
Gabrieli, Giulio
Lepri, Bruno
Esposito, Gianluca
Serotonin Transporter Gene Polymorphisms and Maternal Overprotection Regulate Adult Social Expectations on Close Relationships
title Serotonin Transporter Gene Polymorphisms and Maternal Overprotection Regulate Adult Social Expectations on Close Relationships
title_full Serotonin Transporter Gene Polymorphisms and Maternal Overprotection Regulate Adult Social Expectations on Close Relationships
title_fullStr Serotonin Transporter Gene Polymorphisms and Maternal Overprotection Regulate Adult Social Expectations on Close Relationships
title_full_unstemmed Serotonin Transporter Gene Polymorphisms and Maternal Overprotection Regulate Adult Social Expectations on Close Relationships
title_short Serotonin Transporter Gene Polymorphisms and Maternal Overprotection Regulate Adult Social Expectations on Close Relationships
title_sort serotonin transporter gene polymorphisms and maternal overprotection regulate adult social expectations on close relationships
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8466110/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34573145
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11091123
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