OXTR and major depressive disorder: Conversely, Costa et al. found that the GG genotype of OXTR rs53576 is positively associated with depression in a clinical sample (Costa et al., 2009), and Kushner suggested that GG homozygotes increase susceptibility to depressive symptoms among early adolescent youth (Kushner, Herzhoff, Vrshek-Schallhorn, and Tackett, 2018).