SynthesisBiological psychiatry2014
MAOA, childhood maltreatment, and antisocial behavior: meta-analysis of a gene-environment interaction.
Synthesis in Biological psychiatry, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 124 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
124 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 375 citations in OpenAlex.
- Blood circulating cell-free mitochondrial DNA as a potential biomarker for major depressive disorder: a meta-analysis.Translational psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Ethical issues in the use of genetic predictions of aggressive behavior in the criminal justice system: a systematic review.Frontiers in genetics · 2025Pooled it
- Links of Adversity in Childhood With Mental and Physical Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review of Longitudinal Mediating and Moderating Mechanisms.Trauma, violence & abuse · 2023Pooled it
- Childhood violence exposure and externalizing behaviors: A systematic review of the role of physiological biomarkers.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2022Pooled it
- Differences in Sensitivity to Environment Depending on Catechol-O-Methyltransferase (COMT) Gene? A Meta-analysis of Child and Adolescent Gene-by-Environment Studies.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2019Pooled it
- Meta-analysis of the interaction between serotonin transporter promoter variant, stress, and posttraumatic stress disorder.Scientific reports · 2017Pooled it
- Brain imaging genetics in ADHD and beyond - Mapping pathways from gene to disorder at different levels of complexity.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2017Pooled it
- Underlying Mechanisms of Gene-Environment Interactions in Externalizing Behavior: A Systematic Review and Search for Theoretical Mechanisms.Clinical child and family psychology review · 2015Pooled it
- Cortico-limbic connectivity in MAOA-L carriers is vulnerable to acute tryptophan depletion.Human brain mapping · 2017Trial
- Neuropsychobiological transdiagnostic risk mechanisms for aggression in mental disorders across the life span.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Tandem repeat polymorphisms are associated with brain structure: results of two large population-based studies.Genome medicine · 2026Article
- Insights into neuroscience from the representative birth cohort samples of a multidisciplinary longitudinal study.Acta neuropsychiatrica · 2026Review
- Annual Research Review: Early conduct problems - precursors, outcomes, and etiology.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2026Review
- Sex Differences on Social and Anxiety-Related Responses in Low-Density Lipoprotein Receptor Knockout Mice.Molecular neurobiology · 2026Article
- The long-term impact of adverse childhood experiences on externalizing aggressiveness: sensitive periods during childhood and adolescence.Frontiers in child and adolescent psychiatry · 2026Article
- Family dominant hypothesis for the effect of family of origin on the mental health of offspring: evidence, mechanism, and implications.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Allele-Specific Regulation of PAXIP1-AS1 by SMC3/CEBPB at rs112651172 in Psychiatric Disorders Drives Synaptic and Behavioral Dysfunctions in Mice.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Sex-Dependent Effects ofJournal of child sexual abuse · 2025Article
- Association of Monoamine Oxidase A Gene Promoter Region (30 bp μVNTR) Polymorphism with Serum Levels in Multiple Psychiatric Disorders.Biomedicines · 2025Article
- Why Do They Do It? The Psychology Behind Antisocial Behavior in Children and Adolescents.Pediatric reports · 2025Review
64 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIn a seminal study of gene-environment interaction, childhood maltreatment predicted antisocial behavior more strongly in male subjects carrying an MAOA promoter variant of lesser, compared with higher, transcriptional efficiency. Many further investigations have been reported, including studies of other early environmental exposures and female subjects. Here, we report a meta-analysis of studies testing the interaction of MAOA genotype and childhood adversities on antisocial outcomes in predominantly nonclinical samples.
methodsIncluded were 27 peer-reviewed, English-language studies published through August, 2012, that contained indicators of maltreatment or other family (e.g., parenting, sociodemographic) hardships; MAOA genotype; indices of aggressive and antisocial behavior; and statistical test of genotype-environment interaction. Studies of forensic and exclusively clinical samples, clinical cohorts lacking proportionally matched control subjects, or outcomes nonspecific for antisocial behavior were excluded. The Liptak-Stouffer weighted Z-test for meta-analysis was implemented to maximize study inclusion and calculated separately for male and female cohorts.
resultsAcross 20 male cohorts, early adversity presaged antisocial outcomes more strongly for low-activity, relative to high- activity, MAOA genotype (p = .0044). Stratified analyses showed the interaction specific to maltreatment (p = .00000082) and robust to several sensitivity analyses. Across 11 female cohorts, MAOA did not interact with combined early life adversities, whereas maltreatment alone predicted antisocial behaviors preferentially, but weakly, in female subjects of high-activity MAOA genotype (p = .02).
conclusionsWe found common regulatory variation in MAOA to moderate effects of childhood maltreatment on male antisocial behaviors, confirming a sentinel finding in research on gene-environment interaction. An analogous, but less consistent, finding in female subjects warrants further investigation.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.