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Genetic moderation of effects of maternal sensitivity on girl's age of menarche: Replication of the Manuck et al. study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 September 2014

Sarah Hartman ,
Keith F. Widaman  and
Jay Belsky
Sarah Hartman
Affiliation:
University of California, Davis
Keith F. Widaman
Affiliation:
University of California, Davis
Jay Belsky*
Affiliation:
University of California, Davis
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Jay Belsky, Department of Human Ecology, University of California, Davis, 1331 Hart Hall, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616; E-mail: jbelsky@ucdavis.edu.
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Abstract

Manuck, Craig, Flory, Halder, and Ferrell (2011) reported that a theoretically anticipated effect of family rearing on girls' menarcheal age was genetically moderated by two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the estrogen receptor-α gene. We sought to replicate and extend these findings, studying 210 White females followed from birth. The replication was general because a different measure of the rearing environment was used in this inquiry (i.e., maternal sensitivity) than in the prior one (i.e., family cohesion). Extensions of the work included prospective rather than retrospective measurements of the rearing environment, reports of first menstruation within a year of its occurrence rather than decades later, accounting for some heritability of menarcheal age by controlling for maternal age of menarche, and using a new model-fitting approach to competitively compare diathesis–stress versus differential-susceptibility models of Gene × Environment interaction. The replication/extension effort proved successful in the case of both estrogen receptor-α SNPs, with the Gene × Environment interactions principally reflecting diathesis–stress: lower levels of maternal sensitivity predicted earlier age of menarche for girls homozygous for the minor alleles of either SNP but not for girls carrying other genotypes. Results are discussed in light of the new analytic methods adopted.

Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 27 , Issue 3 , August 2015 , pp. 747 - 756
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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