Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40885866›Full record

ArticleSocial psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology2026

Genetic susceptibility to depressive symptoms in middle-aged to older Americans: time-varying effects and effect modification by early psychosocial factors.

Hannah E Wilding, Walter G Dyer, Brianna Sutara, Sung-Ha Lee, Ashley N Linden-Carmichael, Stephanie T Lanza, Harold H Lee

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Article in Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

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0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

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PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Hannah E WildingThe Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, 17033, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8771-2390
Walter G DyerDepartment of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8294-8409
Brianna SutaraDepartment of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0006-9690-1576
Sung-Ha LeeDepartment of Psychology, Yonsei University, Seoul, 03722, South Korea.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6020-0555
Ashley N Linden-CarmichaelDepartment of Counseling Psychology and Human Services, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, 97403, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8187-6538
Stephanie T LanzaDepartment of Biobehavioral Health, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6101-8381
Harold H LeeDepartment of Biobehavioral Health, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA. hkl5425@psu.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5778-3227

Funding

PREVENTION AND METHODOLOGY TRAINING (PAMT)T32DA017629 · NIDA · PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY-UNIV PARK · PI Eric D Claus, Rina D Eiden · 2005 to 2026
$9.5M
Promoting Rapid Uptake of Multilevel Latent Class Modeling via Best Practices: Investigating Heterogeneity in Daily Substance Use PatternsR01DA057588 · NIDA · PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, THE · PI STEPHANIE T LANZA · 2023 to 2026
$2.7M
NIDA NIH HHS R01 DA057588NIDA NIH HHS T32 DA017629
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeWe examined age-varying genetic influences on depression across young adulthood to older adulthood and the moderating role of early psychosocial factors.

methodsData are from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) with 6,977 European Americans (57% women) from 2006 to 2016 (M age 62.4 ± 14.3, range 26-101 years in 2006). The polygenic score (PGS) for major depression was operationalized as a binary variable at the 75th percentile. Early psychosocial factors examined included maternal warmth, parental education, perceived financial status, and childhood stressful events. Depressive symptoms were measured by the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D; range: 0-8). We utilized time-varying effect modeling to determine the survey wave when genetic risk most affected depressive symptoms. Within this wave, we analyzed the age-varying effect of genetic risk on depressive symptoms and conducted interaction analyses between PGS with each early psychosocial factor.

resultsThe wave-varying effect model revealed that the genetic effect was strongest in 2006. During that year, genetic effects remained significant and stable across age groups, from middle-aged to older adults. In 2006, without negative experiences, those at high genetic risk for depression had 51-60% higher odds of depressive symptoms (CES-D ≥ 3). Conversely, without genetic risk, adverse early psychosocial factors raised depression risk by 37-54%. No multiplicative or additive interaction was observed between genetic risk and psychosocial factors.

conclusionIdentifying individuals with higher genetic susceptibility and adverse early experiences may inform targeted preventive approaches.

Indexed as

DepressionGenetic Predisposition to DiseaseAdultAgedAged, 80 and overFemaleGenetic Risk ScoreHumansMaleMiddle AgedRisk FactorsUnited StatesWhiteAgingChildhood stressDepressionEarly psychosocial factorsPolygenic risk scores

Identifiers

PMID40885866
PMCPMC13008129

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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.