Longitudinal studies have shown that maltreatment at an age younger than 5 years is related to greater psychopathology in adulthood than maltreatment experienced later in childhood [27, 56, 57]. It has not yet been determined whether stressors experienced in adolescence or adulthood are sufficient to detect a G×E effect on AUDs or DD. For example, Binder et al. [58] showed that childhood maltreatment, but not adult life stressors, had an interactive effect with FKBP5 gene variation to predict post-traumatic stress disorder. However, it has been observed that proximal stress can beget distal stress. For example, childhood maltreatment has been associated with increased risk of physical assault and rape in adulthood [59]. Therefore, stress measured in adulthood could to some extent be a proxy for stress exposure in childhood.
