Stressful Life Events and Adolescent Drug Use: Moderating Influences of the MAOA Gene

• NCJ Number: 243873
• Journal: Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 41 Issue: 5 Dated: September - October 2013 Pages: 357-363
• Author(s): John M. Stogner; Chris L. Gibson
• Date Published: October 2013
• Length: 7 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study tested the hypothesis that adolescents who have low-activity alleles for the polymorphic MAOA genotype are more likely to respond to stressful life experiences by initiating substance use.

Abstract

Confirming past research, males and females who reported more cumulative stressful life experiences were more likely to report engaging in multiple types of substance use, even after correcting for many well-known risk factors. This pattern varied for males and females. Males exposed to more stressful experiences were more likely to initiate alcohol and marijuana use; however, females exposed to more stressful experiences had a high likelihood for marijuana and cocaine use, but not alcohol. A second major finding was that male and female adolescents with a low-activity MAOA allele did not have an increased likelihood of alcohol, marijuana, or cocaine use; however, for males, the interaction between MAOA and cumulative stressful life experiences predicted substance-use initiation, but this was not the case for females. The authors advise, however, that the current study should be interpreted with caution due to several methodological limitations that are noted. Although other studies that have used different samples have yielded results in line with the findings of this study when examining interactions between MAOA and particular types of stress-inducing experiences, the current findings must be replicated using other samples. Also, it remains to be determined why the findings differed for males and females. This study analyzed the genetic subsample of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (n = 2,574 adolescents), using logistic regression models for each gender. Respondents' self-reports of eight key stressors were used to create a composite life-stress scale that was allowed to interact with a variable that represented the number of low-activity MAOA alleles. 3 tables, 2 figures, and 62 references