In: Psychology
Consider an individual that is homozygous for the short allele of the 5-HTT gene.
1) If this individual is exposed to relatively few stressful life events, how would you expect the probability of major depression to compare an individual that is homozygous for the long allele?
2) If this individual is exposed to many stressful life events, how would you expect the probability of major depression to compare an individual that is homozygous for the long allele?
1) If this individual is exposed to relatively few stressful life events, how would you expect the probability of major depression to compare an individual that is homozygous for the long allele?
According to the research carried out by Goldman et al., the individuals that have a short allele for 5HTT, will be more prone to be affected by any stressful traumatic event, to be inclined towards major depressive syndrome as compared to the individuals having a long arm. The greatest probability of being affected by the smallest stressful event is by individuals having S/S followed by individuals having an S/L genotype and the least is by individuals having the L/L genotype.
2) If this individual is exposed to many stressful life events, how would you expect the probability of major depression to compare an individual that is homozygous for the long allele?
If the individual has an S/S or S/L genotype, it has been reported that trauma has an even bad effect, as compared to those who do not have an S allele, I.e having L/L allele, p< 0.05.