| Popis: |
Why people differ in their susceptibility to external events is essential to our understanding of personality, human development, and mental disorders. Genes explain a substantial portion of these differences. Specifically, genes influencing the serotonin system are hypothesized to be \(\textit {differential susceptibility}\) factors, determining a person's reactivity to both positive \(\it and\) negative environments. We tested whether genetic variation in the serotonin transporter \(\textit {(5-HTTLPR)}\) is a differential susceptibility factor for daily events. Participants (\(\it N\) = 326, 77% female, mean age = 25, range = 17–36) completed smartphone questionnaires four times a day over four to five days, measuring stressors, uplifts, positive and negative affect. Affect was predicted from environment valence in the previous hour on a within-person level using three-level autoregressive linear mixed models. The \(\textit {5-HTTLPR}\) fulfilled all criteria of a differential susceptibility factor: Positive affect in carriers of the short allele (S) was less reactive to both uplifts and stressors, compared to homozygous carriers of the long allele (L/L). This pattern might reflect relative affective inflexibility in S-allele carriers. Our study provides insight into the serotonin system’s general role in susceptibility and highlights the need to assess the whole spectrum of naturalistic experiences. |
