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Cited by 4Bullying, Victimization, and AggressionChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentChild Abuse and Trauma

Gene-Environment Interplay Linking Peer Victimization With Adolescents’ Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms

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Brendgen, Mara, Zheng, Yao, Vitaro, Frank, Dionne, Ginette, Boivin, Michel·2023·Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
DOI 10.1016/j.jaac.2022.08.005
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Abstract

Objective This study examined to what extent genetic and environmental factors explain-either additively or interactively with peer victimization-different trajectories of adolescents' depressive symptoms and whether genetic factors related to distinct trajectories are correlated with peer victimization. Method Participants included 902 twins (52% girls) who self-reported peer victimization and depressive symptoms in grades 6, 7, 8, 9, and 11. Results Growth mixture modeling revealed 3 trajectories of depressive symptoms: low (69.2% of participants), increasing (19.5%), and high-decreasing-increasing (11.3%). Biometric modeling showed that, for both sexes, genetic factors explained roughly half (52.6%, 47.5%) of the probability of following either a low or an increasing trajectory. Genetic influences (41%) were also observed for the high-decreasing-increasing trajectory, albeit only for girls. Nonshared environmental influences explained the remaining variances, along with shared environmental influences (27%) on the high-decreasing-increasing trajectory. Only for the low and the increasing trajectories, nonshared environmental influences increased with more frequent peer victimization (b low = 0.206, 95% CI [0.094, 0.325]; b increasing = 0.246, 95% CI [0.143, 0.356]). Moreover, peer victimization was associated with a lower probability of a low trajectory and a higher probability of an increasing or high-decreasing-increasing trajectory, and these associations were mostly explained by common underlying genetic factors. Conclusion Youth expressing (partly inherited) depressive symptoms may be at risk of peer victimization. However, increasing depressive symptoms in victims may be mitigated by other environmental factors except for those who enter adolescence with already high levels of depressive symptoms.

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Brendgen, M., Zheng, Y., Vitaro, F., Dionne, G., & Boivin, M.
Affiliations
  • Université du Québec à Montréal (CA)
  • University of Alberta (CA)
  • CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center (CA)
  • Université Laval (CA)
Corresponding author
Brendgen, Mara
ORCID
Venue
Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2023-02
Volume
62
Issue
2
Pages
261-271
ISSN
0890-8567 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.jaac.2022.08.005
OpenAlex
W4296123400
Cited by
4
References
4
Citations by year
2025: 2 · 2023: 2
FWCI
0.95
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (435-2014-1536)
  • Canada Research Chairs
  • Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
Keywords
peer victimization, depressive symptoms, adolescents, gene-environment interaction, genetic factors, nonshared environment, shared environment, developmental trajectories, twin studies, sex differences
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Depression, Female, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Peer Group, Twins, Crime Victims, Self Report, Bullying

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