The interaction between genetic risk and childhood sexual abuse in the prediction of adolescent violent behavior.
A rich line of empirical research has indicated that antisocial behaviors are the result of genetic factors and environmental factors working interactively. The current study uses this knowledge base as a springboard to examine the effects of childhood sexual abuse and genetic risk in the prediction of adolescent violent delinquency. To address this issue, data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health were analyzed. The results of the analyses reveal that childhood sexual abuse interacts with genetic risk to predict involvement in violent delinquency for males. The effects of childhood sexual abuse and genetic risk as well as the interaction between the two are unrelated to violent delinquency for females. Implications of the study are discussed.
Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-1127, USA. kbeaver@fsu.edu
Kevin M
KM
Beaver
D000293:Adolescent; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000145:classification* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015897:Comorbidity; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000145:classification; D005824:Genetics, Behavioral; D006801:Humans; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000145:classification* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors; D012931:Social Environment; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology