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Prevention of Early Substance Use Mediates, and Variation at SLC6A4 Moderates, SAAF Intervention Effects on OXTR Methylation

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Abstract

The Strong African American Family (SAAF) program has been shown to have a variety of short and long-term benefits for participating youth and families. However, biological mechanisms potentially influencing long-term effects on resilience in young adulthood have not been examined. In the current investigation, we examine the effects of SAAF on methylation of the OXTR gene in young adulthood, focusing on a regulatory region previously identified to be both responsive to stress and implicated in resilience. Using the subsample of participants from the original study for whom methylation data was available (N = 388), we replicated the previously reported G × E effect on prevention of early substance use and then examined whether there would also be a moderated effect on OXTR methylation in early adulthood, with “s” allele carriers, but not “LL” participants, showing a significant indirect effect of SAAF on OXTR methylation. Results suggest that for susceptible youth (i.e., “s” allele carriers), preventive intervention may “get under the skin,” in a manner potentially beneficial for long-term outcomes. Implications for examination of OXTR methylation in future prevention research are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This article was supported in part by grant 5R01HD030588-16A1 and grant P30 DA027827 awarded to Gene H. Brody and by grant R01HD069439 awarded to Steven R. H. Beach. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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  1. Center for Family Research, University of Georgia, 1095 College Station Road, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    Steven R. H. Beach, Man Kit Lei & Gene H. Brody

  2. Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA

    Robert A. Philibert

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  1. Steven R. H. Beach
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Correspondence to Steven R. H. Beach.

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This article was supported in part by grants 5R01HD030588-16A1 and P30 DA027827 awarded to Gene H. Brody.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Beach, S.R.H., Lei, M.K., Brody, G.H. et al. Prevention of Early Substance Use Mediates, and Variation at SLC6A4 Moderates, SAAF Intervention Effects on OXTR Methylation. Prev Sci 19, 90–100 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-016-0709-5

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