首页 | 本学科首页   官方微博 | 高级检索  
   检索      


Association between the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene and children's social cognition at 18 months
Authors:M Wade  T J Hoffmann  K Wigg  J M Jenkins
Institution:1. Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development, University of Toronto, , Toronto, ON, Canada;2. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Institute for Human Genetics, University of California at San Francisco, , San Francisco, CA, USA;3. Genetics and Development Division, Toronto Western Research Institute, , Toronto, ON, Canada
Abstract:At 18 months, children engage in a variety of social behaviors that reflect their nascent ability to understand the intentions of other people (e.g. joint attention, empathy, cooperation and self‐recognition). Although numerous contextual factors have been shown to predict social cognition in young children, the genetic underpinnings of social‐cognitive traits has been understudied in this age group. Owing to the known effects of oxytocin on adult social cognition and psychopathology, this study hypothesized that variability in the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) would be associated with social cognition in children at 18 months. Participants consisted of 350 children (182 males; 168 females) who were part of an ongoing longitudinal study that aimed to assess environmental and genetic contributions to children's cognitive and socio‐emotional functioning. At 18 months, social cognition was measured using previously validated and developmentally sensitive tasks assessing children's joint attention, empathy, cooperation and self‐recognition. Five potentially functional OXTR variants were genotyped: rs1042778, rs2254298, rs11131149, rs237897 and rs237899. A family‐based association design was used to control for population admixture and stratification, and additional non‐genomic covariates were controlled. Results showed that variability in rs11131149 was significantly associated with social cognition (P = 0.009), with more copies of the major allele related to higher social cognition, and more copies of the minor (risk) allele associated with lower social cognition. A haplotype consisting of rs11131149–rs2254298 was also associated with social cognition (P = 0.020). Implications for normative and pathological development are discussed, and key areas for future research are proposed.
Keywords:Child development  family‐based association design  genetic association  oxytocin receptor  social cognition  theory of mind
设为首页 | 免责声明 | 关于勤云 | 加入收藏

Copyright©北京勤云科技发展有限公司  京ICP备09084417号