title: Indicators of domestic/intimate partner violence are structured by genetic and nonshared environmental influences.
abstract: One of the most consistent findings to emerge from domestic/intimate partner violence (IPV) research is that IPV tends to "run in the family." Social learning theories appear to be consistent with empirical data, but almost no attention has been given to alternative explanations, including that genetic factors explain intergenerational transmission of IPV. Data for this study were drawn from wave 4 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Three indicators of IPV were measured and genetic factors accounted for 24% of the variance in hitting one's partner, 54% of the variance in injuring one's partner, and 51% of the variance in forcing sexual activity on one's partner. The shared environment explained none of the variance across all three indicators and the nonshared environment explained the remainder of the variance. These findings point to the importance of genetic factors in the etiology of IPV.
authors.affiliation: School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W. Campbell Rd., Richardson, TX 75080, USA. Electronic address: jcbarnes@utdallas.edu.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Barnes
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: TenEyck
authors.forename: Brian B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Boutwell
authors.forename: Kevin M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Beaver
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D017579:Domestic Violence / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D005823:Genetics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D063588:National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health; D011336:Probability; D012307:Risk Factors; D012747:Sexual Partners / Q000523:psychology; D014427:Twins