Stressful social environment and financial strain drive depressive symptoms, and reveal the effects of a FKBP5 variant and male sex, in African Americans living in Tallahassee

Objectives The World Health Organization estimates that almost 300 million people suffer from depression worldwide. African Americans are understudied for depression‐related phenotypes despite widespread racial disparities. In our study of African Americans, we integrated information on psychosocial stressors with genetic variation in order to better understand how these factors associated with depressive symptoms. Methods Our research strategy combined information on financial strain and social networks with genetic data to investigate variation in symptoms of depression (CES‐D scores). We collected self‐report data on depressive symptoms, financial strain (difficulty paying bills) and personal social networks (a model of an individual's social environment), and we genotyped genetic variants in five genes previously implicated in depressive disorders (HTR1a, BDNF, GNB3, SLC6A4, and FKBP5) in 128 African Americans residing in Tallahassee, Florida. We tested for direct and gene–environment interactive effects of the psychosocial stressors and genetic variants on depressive symptoms. Results Significant associations were identified between high CES‐D scores and a stressful social environment (i.e., a high percentage of people in participants' social network who were a source of stress) and high financial strain. Only one genetic variant (rs1360780 in FKBP5) was significantly associated with CES‐D scores and only when psychosocial stressors were included in the model; the T allele had an additive effect on depressive symptoms. Sex was also significantly associated with CES‐D score in the model with psychosocial stressors and genetic variants; males had higher CES‐D scores. No significant interactive effects were detected. Conclusions A stressful social environment and material disadvantage increase depressive symptoms in the study population. Additional associations with FKBP5 and male sex were revealed in models that included both psychosocial and genetic data. Our results suggest that incorporating psychosocial stressors may empower future genetic association studies and help clarify the biological consequences of social and financial stress.