Polygenic risk score and peer victimisation independently predict depressive symptoms in adolescence: results from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Children Development.

Publisher: Blackwell Publishers Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 0375361 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1469-7610 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00219630 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Child Psychol Psychiatry Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: 2002- : Oxford : Blackwell Publishers
Original Publication: Oxford ; New York : Pergamon Press

Depression*/epidemiology ; Depression*/genetics ; Child Development*; Humans ; Adolescent ; Child ; Adult ; Longitudinal Studies ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Genome-Wide Association Study ; Quebec/epidemiology ; Risk Factors

Background: Peer victimisation has been associated with depressive symptoms during adolescence, however not all peer victimised adolescents will exhibit such symptoms. This study tested whether having a genetic predisposition to developing depression increased the risk of experiencing depressive symptoms in peer victimised youth. To date, no study has explored such gene-environment interaction using a polygenic risk score for depression (PRS-depression) in the context of peer victimisation and depressive symptoms in adolescence.
Methods: The sample included 748 participants born in 1997/98 from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development with genotype data and prospectively collected information on peer victimisation (12-13 years) obtained from both self- and teacher-reports, as well as self-reported depressive symptoms (15-17 years). The PRS-depression was based on the genome-wide association meta-analysis of broad depression by Howard et al. (2019).
Results: Self- and teacher-reported peer victimisation in early adolescence were both associated with depressive symptoms in adolescence (β = 0.34, p < .001; β = 0.14, p = .001 respectively), and this association remained significant when accounting for PRS-depression (β = 0.33, p < .001; β = 0.13, p = .002 respectively). PRS-depression was independently associated with depressive symptoms, but there was no significant PRS-depression by peer victimisation interaction (self-reported and teacher-reported). PRS-depression was correlated with self-reported, but not teacher-reported, peer victimisation.
Conclusions: Our findings suggested that a partial measure of an individual's genetic predisposition to depression, as measured by PRS-depression, and being exposed to peer victimisation (self- and teacher-reported) were independently associated with depressive symptoms in adolescence. Furthermore, PRS-depression did not exacerbate the risk of depressive symptoms among adolescents who had been peer victimised. Lastly, we found evidence of a gene-environment correlation between PRS-depression and self-reported peer victimisation. Future studies are needed to replicate this finding and to further understand the role of genetic predispositions in experiencing depressive symptoms following peer victimisation.
(© 2022 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.)

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Keywords: Peer victimisation; adolescence; depression; longitudinal; polygenic risk score

Date Created: 20220920 Date Completed: 20230206 Latest Revision: 20230401

20240513

10.1111/jcpp.13706

36124742