Gene-environment interactions in disruptive behaviors

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    Samenvatting

    Disruptive behavior disorders are relatively common and have a substantial impact on children and their families. For my Ph.D.-research, I investigated the genetics, environmental factors, gene-environment interactions (GxE’s) and neural correlates of disruptive behaviors in children and adolescents. Results of my research show that a variety of environmental factors play a role in relation to disruptive behaviors, including maternal smoking, paracetamol use and stress during pregnancy, and maltreatment and stressful events during childhood. Disruptive behaviors represent complex genetic traits and GxE’s between a multitude of genetic and environmental factors are involved. I investigated and confirmed GxE’s while considering different levels of complexity. In particular, I observed GxE’s involving stressful events during pregnancy and opioid signaling emerged as a potentially underlying pathway. Furthermore, GxE’s were found between genetic variants implicated by genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of disruptive behaviors and smoking during pregnancy and maltreatment during childhood. Polygenic risk scoring analyses pointed to a shared genetic etiology between the disruptive behavior-related traits aggression and callous-unemotional traits. In this respect, shared glutamatergic genetic variation was also observed. Further, I obtained evidence suggesting a relation between polygenic risk scores for aggression and brain structural connectivity in the right hemisphere white-matter. Summarizing, the results of my Ph.D.-research point to a range of genetic and environmental factors, GxE’s and brain regions that may play a role in disruptive behaviors and aid in identifying potentially underlying mechanisms.
    Originele taal-2English
    KwalificatieDoctor of Philosophy
    Toekennende instantie
    • Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
    Begeleider(s)/adviseur
    • Hoekstra, Pieter, Supervisor
    • Buitelaar, J. K., Supervisor, Externe Persoon
    • Dietrich, Andrea, Co-supervisor
    • Poelmans, G.J.V., Co-supervisor, Externe Persoon
    Datum van toekenning17-nov.-2020
    Plaats van publicatie[Groningen]
    Uitgever
    Gedrukte ISBN's978-94-034-2769-0
    Elektronische ISBN's978-94-034-2770-6
    DOI's
    StatusPublished - 2020

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