ArticlePloS one2019
Association of MAOA genetic variants and resilience with psychosocial stress: A longitudinal study of Syrian refugees.
Article in PloS one, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Psychological and social interventions for the promotion of mental health in people living in low- and middle-income countries affected by humanitarian crises.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Novel GxE effects and resilience: A case:control longitudinal study of psychosocial stress with war-affected youth.PloS one · 2022Trial
- Variations of structural-functional coupling in post-traumatic stress disorder are associated with underlying molecular and transcriptional features.Psychological medicine · 2026Article
- Mixed evidence for stress effects on cortisol-testosterone coupling in Syrian refugee and Jordanian non-refugee adolescents.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2026Article
- Resilience and brain health in global populations.Nature medicine · 2025Review
- Improved approaches to genotyping MAOA-uVNTR polymorphisms with novel allele discovery.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Narrative Review: A Neurobiological Perspective on Resilience in Youth.JAACAP open · 2025Review
- The Molecular Basis of Resilience: A Narrative Review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Review
- Associations between family-level adversity and society-level trauma with emotional and behavioural problems amongst children of West Papuan refugees.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2021Article
- Annual Research Review: A multilevel bioecological analysis of factors influencing the mental health and psychosocial well-being of refugee children.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2021Review
- Harnessing the Neurobiology of Resilience to Protect the Mental Well-Being of Healthcare Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Review
- Mitigating toxic stress in children affected by conflict and displacement.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2020Article
- Article
- Measuring the psychosocial, biological, and cognitive signatures of profound stress in humanitarian settings: impacts, challenges, and strategies in the field.Conflict and health · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
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Abstract
Early childhood trauma can have profound and lifelong effects on adult mental health and psychosocial wellbeing. Nevertheless, responses to trauma are highly variable. Genetic variants may help explain variation in responses to trauma by identifying alleles that associate with changes in mental health measures. Protective factors, such as resilience, likely also play an important role in responses to trauma. The effects of genetic variants, in combination with protective factors, on psychosocial health are not well understood, particularly in non-Western contexts. In this study, we test the relative influence of genetic variants of monoamine oxidase A (MAOA, a gene proposed to influence the impact of childhood trauma on adult violence and antisocial behavior), levels of resilience, and exposure to traumatic events on psychosocial stress and mental health trajectories over time. We use data from a cohort of 12-18-year-old Syrian refugees who were forcibly displaced to neighboring Jordan (n = 399). DNA samples and survey data on trauma exposure, resilience (CYRM-12), and psychosocial stress were collected at three time points: baseline, ~13 weeks, and ~48 weeks. Using multilevel models, we identified an association of MAOA variant, in males only, with symptom scores of psychosocial stress on the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) over time (p = 8.1 x 10-4). We also found that resilience is strongly associated with PSS (p = 7.9 x 10-9), underscoring the importance of protective factors in influencing levels of psychosocial stress. Furthermore, there was an additive effect wherein the sharpest reductions in perceived psychosocial stress are seen in low-activity MAOA males with low trauma exposure or high resilience levels. Our results highlight the value of studies that integrate genetic and psychosocial factors to better understand complex phenotypes, such as responses to trauma in contexts of high trauma exposure.
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