Psychological Development and Education ›› 2013, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (2): 131-138.

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Interaction Effects of 5-HTTLPR, Gender, and Family Socioeconomic Status on Facial Expression Recognition in Chinese College Students

ZHU Bi1, CHEN Chuan-sheng2, Moyzis3, LIN Chong-de1, DONG Qi1, HE Qing-hua1, CHEN Chun-hui1, LI Jun1   

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China;
    2. Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine 92697, US;
    3. Department of Biological Chemistry and Institute of Genomics and Bioinformatics, University of California, Irvine 92697, US
  • Online:2013-03-15 Published:2013-03-15

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Abstract: A polymorphism in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) has been implicated in recognition of facial emotions. Previous research has separately examined the effects of gender, 5-HTTLPR genotype, and family socioeconomic status (SES) on facial expression recognition (FER). The current study examined how these factors interacted in a large Chinese college students sample (N=531). Results showed significant main effects of gender and family SES on FER, favoring females and those from higher SES backgrounds. The three-way interaction among gender, family SES, and 5-HTTLPR was also significant, mainly because high-SES females with the long allele of 5-HTTLPR showed lower FER than s allele homozygous. These results are interpreted as a gene-environment interaction from an expanded contextualist perspective.

Key words: 5-HTTLPR, gender, family socioeconomic status, facial expression recognition, gene-environment interaction

CLC Number: 

  • B844.3
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