2011/08/31 by Shimon Saphire-Bernstein, Baldwin M. Way, Heejung S. Kim +2 · 1 citation
Psychology · Neuroscience · #Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior #Attachment and Relationship Dynamics #Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior #Oxytocin receptor #Optimism #Psychology #Mediation #Oxytocin #SNP #Clinical psychology #Developmental psychology #Single-nucleotide polymorphism #Gene #Genetics #Biology #Social psychology #Neuroscience
paper · doi:10.1073/pnas.1113137108
openalex publication_date 2011/08/31 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Psychological resources--optimism, mastery, and self-esteem--buffer the deleterious effects of stress and are predictors of neurophysiological and psychological health-related outcomes. These resources have been shown to be highly heritable, yet the genetic basis for this heritability remains unknown. Here, we report a link between the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) SNP rs53576 and psychological resources, such that carriers of the "A" allele have lower levels of optimism, mastery, and self-esteem, relative to G/G homozygotes. OXTR was also associated with depressive symptomatology. Mediation analysis indicates that the effects of OXTR on depressive symptoms may be largely mediated by the influence of OXTR on psychological resources.