An unexplored alternative mechanism through which adverse environments may lead to poor psychosocial outcomes is the interaction of parental environments with genetic variability in oxytocin biology. One such candidate is the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene. For example, being an AG carrier for the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs2254298 on the OXTR gene has been found to be associated with loneliness in adolescents (Lucht et al., 2009). Whether this SNP, in interaction with an adverse parental environment, is associated with poor psychosocial functioning remains unclear.
