Genetic variation of FYN contributes to the molecular mechanisms of coping styles in healthy Chinese-Han participants.

Genetic factors can influence specific human coping styles. Polymorphisms in the Src family tyrosine kinase FYN gene have been associated with several personality traits, but no studies have examined the possible relationship between FYN alleles and coping styles. To this end, we examined the association between three single nucleotide polymorphisms of FYN (rs706895, rs3730353, and rs6916861) and coping styles as measured by the Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire in 488 healthy Chinese-Han individuals. In the total sample population, there were no significant differences in the scores for active coping and passive coping among the genotypes of these three polymorphisms. In sex-specific analyses, however, both rs3730353 and rs6916861 polymorphisms showed a significant relationship with passive coping scores in female participants (rs3730353: χ(2)=8.08, P=0.018; rs6916861: χ(2)=7.78, P=0.020). Our results provided suggestive evidence that the FYN gene contributes toward the variance in human coping styles.