title: Paternal antisocial behavior and sons' cognitive ability: a population-based quasiexperimental study.
abstract: Parents' antisocial behavior is associated with developmental risks for their offspring, but its effects on their children's cognitive ability are unknown. We used linked Swedish register data for a large sample of adolescent men (N = 1,177,173) and their parents to estimate associations between fathers' criminal-conviction status and sons' cognitive ability assessed at compulsory military conscription. Mechanisms behind the association were tested in children-of-siblings models across three types of sibling fathers with increasing genetic relatedness (half-siblings, full siblings, and monozygotic twins) and in quantitative genetic models. Sons whose fathers had a criminal conviction had lower cognitive ability than sons whose fathers had no conviction (any crime: Cohen's d = -0.28; violent crime: Cohen's d = -0.49). As models adjusted for more genetic factors, the association was gradually reduced and eventually eliminated. Nuclear-family environmental factors did not contribute to the association. Our results suggest that the association between men's antisocial behavior and their children's cognitive ability is not causal but is due mostly to underlying genetic factors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki antti.latvala@helsinki.fi.
authors.forename: Antti
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Latvala
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet.
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kuja-Halkola
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet.
authors.forename: Niklas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Långström
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lichtenstein
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003415:Crime / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D057237:Criminals / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005220:Fathers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D012042:Registries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D035781:Siblings; D013548:Sweden; D014427:Twins; D014754:Violence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: antisocial behavior; cognitive ability; genetic confounding; offspring; parents; quasiexperimental designs