Aim of the study:
Although both have shown significant effects upon depression in clinical samples, no direct comparison has been reported of the relative power of psychological resilience and the short form of the serotonin transporter gene 5-HTTLPR as predictors of depression in a community sample.

Subject or material and methods:
In a sample set by a priori power analysis, 67 adult females and 59 adult males provided buccal cell samples nand responses to psychological questionaires to enable a comparison between a single genetic factor, childhood stressors, recent stressors, psychological resilience and depression.

Results:
None of genotype, childhood or recent stressors was significantly associated with depression scores, but resilience was a significant inverse predictor of depression scores and also of the presence of clinically significant depression.

Discussion:
Although power was not a limiting factor, these data are congruent with some previously reported in a major meta-analysis of the association between the 5-HTTLPR and depression.

Conclusions:
These data suggest that measures of an individual’s ability to resist or recover from stress may be useful in assessing vulnerability to depression when used with ‘at risk’ individuals in everyday practice.