Abstract
Background. There is evidence for an association between two different polymorphisms of the human serotonin transporter gene (5-HTT) and the personality trait of neuroticism and affective disorder.
Methods. We studied the association between neuroticism and polymorphisms in the 5HTT-linked promoter region and in a variable number tandem repeat region (VNTR) of the 5-HTT gene in 204 people aged over 60 derived from a random sample of men and women in the general population. Approximately half of the subjects were in the top 20 % of neuroticism scorers and half in the bottom 20 %.
Results. There were no significant differences in allelic or genotypic frequencies between the high and low neuroticism scorers. There was highly significant linkage disequilibrium between the two 5-HTT gene polymorphisms, and haplotype analysis showed no association between neuroticism level and haplotype.
Conclusions. Reports of an association between two 5-HTT gene polymorphisms and the personality trait of neuroticism are not supported by these results.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 735-739 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Psychological Medicine |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Publication status | Published - May 1999 |
Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)
- BIPOLAR AFFECTIVE-DISORDER
- PERSONALITY-TRAITS
- REGULATORY REGION
- MAJOR DEPRESSION
- ASSOCIATION
- MODEL
- SUSCEPTIBILITY
- TEMPERAMENT
- DIMENSIONS
- POPULATION