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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Molecular Psychiatry
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1499395
This article is part of the Research Topic The Individual and Joint Contributions of Molecular and Environmental Factors on Gene Expression and Psychopathology Development View all articles

Polygenic Risk for Epigenetic Aging and Adverse Life Experiences Interact to Predict Growth in Adolescent Depression in a Racially/Ethnically Diverse Sample

Provisionally accepted
Kit K. Elam Kit K. Elam 1*Jinni Su Jinni Su 2Weisiyu Abraham Qin Weisiyu Abraham Qin 1Kathryn Lemery-Chalfant Kathryn Lemery-Chalfant 2
  • 1 Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, United States
  • 2 Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Research has yet to examine the interplay between indices of environmental risk and resilience processes and genetic predisposition for epigenetic aging in predicting early adolescent depressive symptoms. In the current study we examine whether adverse life events and parental acceptance moderate polygenic predisposition for GrimAge epigenetic aging in predicting trajectories of depressive symptoms across early adolescence. Method. Using data from the Adolescent Brain Development Study (ABCD, N = 11,875), we created polygenic scores for GrimAge, and examined whether exposure to adverse life events and parental acceptance moderated the relation between genetic risk and depressive symptom trajectories from age 10/11 to 12/13 using growth mixture modelling. We examined models separately in European American (EA), African American (AA), and Latinx (LX) subgroups of ABCD. Results. In the EA and AA subgroups, adverse life events moderated polygenic Grim-Age epigenetic aging such that there was increased likelihood of membership in a higher vs. lower depression trajectory. Discussion. We extend literature by identifying genetic contributions to epigenetic aging as a depression diathesis in adolescence. Findings also highlight the detrimental role of adverse life events in exacerbating genetic risk for the development of depression in adolescence.

    Keywords: polygenic, epigenetics, Depression, Adverse life events, parent acceptance, early adolescence

    Received: 20 Sep 2024; Accepted: 21 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Elam, Su, Qin and Lemery-Chalfant. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Kit K. Elam, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, United States

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