Role of Genetics and Social Connectedness on Resilience: A Comparison Between Varsity Athletes and Non-Athletes

Resilience generally refers to an individual’s ability to overcome illness or to cope with trauma or adversity. There appears to be great variability in this regard, possibly being attributable to life events, social designations, personality traits and genetic factors. The present study was to examined the relationship between early life trauma, social connectedness and psychological well-being and to investigate the role of a NPY polymorphism (rs16147) among varsity athletes. Carleton University varsity athletes and non-varsity athlete students (N= 284) completed questionnaires and provided saliva samples for genotyping. It was found that there was a relationship between early life trauma and diminished psychological well-being which was mediated by social connectedness, which was then further moderated by NPY genotypes and athletic condition. These findings suggest that among individuals that had experienced trauma, the GG genotype might be linked to resilience and higher levels of well-being, in a highly social environmental.