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Do aggressive and non‐aggressive antisocial behaviors in adolescents result from the same genetic and environmental effects?
Author(s) -
Button Tanya M.M.,
Scourfield Jane,
Martin Neilson,
McGuffin Peter
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
american journal of medical genetics part b: neuropsychiatric genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.393
H-Index - 126
eISSN - 1552-485X
pISSN - 1552-4841
DOI - 10.1002/ajmg.b.30045
Subject(s) - heritability , aggression , structural equation modeling , twin study , psychology , additive genetic effects , behavioural genetics , population , genetic correlation , developmental psychology , correlation , genetics , biology , genetic variation , demography , gene , statistics , mathematics , geometry , sociology
Antisocial behavior (ASB) in adolescents can broadly be separated into two forms; aggressive and non‐aggressive. Both are heritable and it has been suggested that aggressive ASB is more heritable. The extent to which genes contribute to the correlation between the two is unknown. Structural equation modeling was applied to a population‐based twin sample of 258 twins pairs aged 11–18 to estimate the heritability of each form of ASB and to estimate the extent to which the phenotypic correlation was the consequence of shared genes and environmental factors. Non‐shared environment and genetic factors substantially influenced both forms of ASB. The heritability of aggressive (but not non‐aggressive) ASB was significantly higher in girls than in boys. Combining both sexes, a model in which the genetic effects on aggressive and non‐aggressive ASB were identical could be rejected. Our results suggest a partial genetic overlap with a specific genetic effect contributing to the variance of aggressive ASB and a stronger genetic effect on aggression in females than in males. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.