Childhood maltreatment and the clinical characteristics of major depressive disorder in adolescence and adulthood.

Childhood maltreatment is widely implicated as the strongest developmental risk factor for depression onset. The current research is novel in examining the fine-grained associations of childhood emotional versus physical versus sexual maltreatment to indices of the severity, course, and presence of anxiety and trauma-related psychopathology in depression. An amalgamation across 6 previous investigations resulted in a sample of 575 adolescents and adults (76% female; age range 12-70, = 27.

Maternal- versus paternal-perpetrated maltreatment and risk for sexual and peer bullying revictimization in young women with depression.

Background: Childhood maltreatment is one of the strongest predictors of sexual and peer bullying re-victimization. However, it is not clear which types of maltreatment are associated with the greatest risk.

Objective: The current study examined the differential relations of maternal- versus paternal-perpetrated emotional maltreatment, neglect, and physical maltreatment, as well as sexual maltreatment, to sexual victimization and peer bullying victimization outside the home.

Interactions between childhood maltreatment and brain-derived neurotrophic factor and serotonin transporter polymorphisms on depression symptoms.

This study represents the first replication of the BDNF Val66Met ⁎ 5-HTTLPR ⁎ childhood maltreatment effect on self-reported depression symptoms using a rigorous maltreatment interview. Participants included a community sample of 339 adolescents/young adults (age 12-33; 265 female). In the context of childhood neglect, among BDNF Met-carriers, s-allele carriers of 5-HTTLPR reported significantly higher depression than l/l homozygotes, whereas a differential relation of 5-HTTLPR genotype to depression was not seen among BDNF Val/Val homozygotes.

Childhood emotional and sexual maltreatment moderate the relation of the serotonin transporter gene to stress generation.

Emerging evidence suggests that the tendency to generate stressful life events may be, at least in part, genetically determined. However, the role of the early environment in shaping responses to later stressors is crucial to fully specifying biogenetic models of stress generation. The current study examined the moderating role of childhood emotional, physical, and sexual maltreatment on the relation of the serotonin-transporter-linked promoter region (5-HTTLPR) polymorphism of the serotonin transporter gene to proximal independent, dependent, and dependent-interpersonal life events.