COMT Gene Interacts With Maternal Parenting Style To Predict Creativity: A Test Of The Differential Susceptibility Theory

Creativity is an important driving force in social development as well as an indispensable capacity in individual development.In the early years,creativity researchers paid more attention to the influence of environmental factors on individual creativity,among which the parenting style of family environment has been closely watched.In recent years,with the development of molecular genetics,creativity researchers have begun to focus on the genetic mechanisms of creativity at the molecular level,and also pay attention to the interaction between genes and the environment.The COMT gene in the dopamine pathway,which is closely related to the cognitive function associated with creativity,is an important candidate gene for the molecular genetics of creativity.Thus,The present study examined the interactions between variants in a candidate plasticity gene(COMT gene)and parenting style(maternal parenting style)on creative potential for male and female respectively,in light of the differential susceptibility theory.The present study explored the influence of COMT gene(11 SNP)and parenting style on undergraduates' creativity in the divergent verbal tasks.Creativity and parenting style were measured by DT test and Parenting Authority Questionnaire among 421 unrelated healthy Chinese undergraduates respecitvely.Eleven singlenucleotide polymorphisms covering COMT were genotyped and genomic DNA for each participant was extracted from peripheral venous blood samples.The main conclusions were listed as follows:1.The interaction between COMT gene and maternal parenting style on individual creativity(1)The interaction between the COMT rs4818?rs6269?rs4646312 ?rs5993883 genotype and mother authoritativeness were significant on the fluency/ flexibility /originality for females,and the mother authoritativeness could positively predict fluency/ flexibility /originality in female individuals with the carriers of rs4818 GG?rs6269 GG?4646312 CC?rs5993883 GG genotype.(2)The interaction between the COMT rs4818?rs6269?rs4646312 genotype and mother permissiveness were significant on the flexibility for males.2.The model test of interaction between COMT gene and maternal parenting style(1)For females,the model of the interaction between the COMT rs4818 ?rs6269?rs4646312 genotype and mother authoritativeness on the fluency/ flexibility /originality support for the differential susceptibility hypothesis.And the results showed that for female individuals,those who with COMT rs4818 GG?rs6269 GG?4646312 CC genotype showed higher fluency/flexibility/originality when expose to high mother authoritativeness,but less fluency/flexibility/originality when expose to low mother authoritativeness.(2)For females,the model of the interaction between the COMT rs5993883 genotype and mother authoritativeness on the fluency/ flexibility support for the differential susceptibility hypothesis.And the results showed that for female individuals,those who with COMT rs5993883 GG genotype showed higher fluency/flexibility/originality when expose to high mother authoritativeness,but less fluency/flexibility/originality when expose to low mother authoritativeness.