There was no positive correlation between the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism and presence of mental symptoms in our sample, although the children were exposed to high levels of abuse, neglect, and urban violence.
In the current study, we aimed to investigate the contribution of serotonin transporter (5-HTT) polymorphisms to the development of violence and to explore the relations among genes, personality, social environment, and juvenile violent behavior in China.
Most interestingly, an interaction effect between childhood environment and 5HTT genotype on violent behavior was found in that high adversity during childhood impacted only the later-life violence if the short promoter alleles were present.
A functional polymorphism in the promoter region of the human serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) was recently identified and the presence of the short (S) allele found to be associated with a lower level of expression of the gene, lower levels of 5-HT uptake, type 2 alcoholism, violence and suicidal behavior.