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Dobewall H, Keltikangas-Järvinen L, Saarinen A, Lyytikäinen LP, Zwir I, Cloninger R, Raitakari OT, Lehtimäki T, Hintsanen M. Genetic differential susceptibility to the parent-child relationship quality and the life span development of compassion. Dev Psychobiol 2021; 63:e22184. [PMID: 34423428 DOI: 10.1002/dev.22184] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2020] [Revised: 06/26/2021] [Accepted: 07/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
The development of compassion for others might be influenced by the social experiences made during childhood and has a genetic component. No research has yet investigated whether the parent-child relationship quality interacts with genetic variation in the oxytocin and dopamine systems in predicting compassion over the life span. In the prospective Young Finns Study (N = 2099, 43.9% men), we examined the interaction between mother-reported emotional warmth and intolerance toward their child assessed in 1980 (age of participants, 3-18 years) and two established genetic risk scores for oxytocin levels and dopamine signaling activity. Dispositional compassion for others was measured with the Temperament and Character Inventory 1997, 2001, and 2012 (age of participants, 20-50 years). We found a gene-environment interaction (p = .031) that remained marginally significant after adjustment for multiple testing. In line with the differential susceptibility hypothesis, only participants who carry alleles associated with low dopamine signaling activity had higher levels of compassion when growing up with emotionally warm parents, whereas they had lower levels of compassion when their parents were emotionally cold. Children's genetic variability in the dopamine system might result in plasticity to early environmental influences that have a long-lasting effect on the development of compassion. However, our findings need replication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Henrik Dobewall
- Division of Psychology, Faculty of Education, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.,Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.,Department of Clinical Chemistry, Fimlab Laboratories, and Finnish Cardiovascular Research Center - Tampere, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
| | | | - Aino Saarinen
- Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Leo-Pekka Lyytikäinen
- Department of Clinical Chemistry, Fimlab Laboratories, and Finnish Cardiovascular Research Center - Tampere, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland.,Finnish Cardiovascular Research Center, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
| | - Igor Zwir
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, United States.,Department of Computer Science, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Robert Cloninger
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, United States
| | - Olli T Raitakari
- Centre for Population Health Research, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.,Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.,Department of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland
| | - Terho Lehtimäki
- Department of Clinical Chemistry, Fimlab Laboratories, and Finnish Cardiovascular Research Center - Tampere, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland.,Finnish Cardiovascular Research Center, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
| | - Mirka Hintsanen
- Division of Psychology, Faculty of Education, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
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Oksman E, Rosenström T, Gluschkoff K, Saarinen A, Hintsanen M, Pulkki-Råback L, Viikari J, Raitakari OT, Keltikangas-Järvinen L. Associations Between Early Childcare Environment and Different Aspects of Adulthood Sociability: The 32-Year Prospective Young Finns Study. Front Psychol 2019; 10:2060. [PMID: 31551890 PMCID: PMC6746937 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2019] [Accepted: 08/26/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Sociability is a widely studied trait that has been linked both with individual well- and ill-being. Although early childcare has been shown to affect social competence in children, its role in the development of different aspects of adulthood sociability is poorly understood. Using a longitudinal population-based sample (N = 464), this study investigated whether childcare arrangements at ages 3 or 6 are associated with self-reported adulthood sociability at ages 20 to 35 years. A total of five aspects of sociability were measured using three well-established personality inventories (EAS, NEO-FFI, and TCI). Multilevel modeling was applied to examine the association between early care and adulthood sociability, adjusting for several sources of random variation (between-individual variance, within-individual variance between measurement times, variance between used sociability indicators, and error variance that cannot be attributed to the previously mentioned) and potential confounders (disruptive behavior in childhood, parental socio-economic status, parent–child relationship quality, maternal age, and the number of children in the family). Based on our results, in comparison to home care, family daycare and center-based daycare at age 3 and center-based daycare at age 6 were associated with higher sociability later in life. The association was strongest for aspects of sociability that emphasize the willingness to be surrounded by other people and to be attached to them. In other words, characteristics of early care may contribute uniquely to the development of these aspects of sociability with effects that persist into adult life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elli Oksman
- Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Tom Rosenström
- Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Kia Gluschkoff
- Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Aino Saarinen
- Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.,Unit of Psychology, Faculty of Education, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
| | - Mirka Hintsanen
- Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.,Unit of Psychology, Faculty of Education, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
| | - Laura Pulkki-Råback
- Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Jorma Viikari
- Department of Clinical Physiology, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.,Department of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.,Research Center of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.,Faculty of Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | - Olli Tuomas Raitakari
- Department of Clinical Physiology, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.,Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
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