Delinquent peer affiliation and conduct problems: A twin study.

Button, Tanya M. M.; Corley, Robin P.; Rhee, Soo Hyun; Hewitt, John K.; Young, Susan E.; Stallings, Michael C.

doi:10.1037/0021-843x.116.3.554

Cited by 77 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Overall, the results for effects of delinquent friends reflect a pattern that individuals who have friends that are increasingly delinquent through adolescence are also more likely to follow a pattern of increased delinquency. This is consistent with a number of past studies (Button et al 2007;Miller et al 2009;Rebellon 2006). As mentioned above, the finding that peer behavior influences delinquency is not surprising; the more interesting question lies in disentangling this effect.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Factors that Influence Trajectories of Delinquency Throughout Adolescence

Evans

Simons

2014

J Youth Adolescence

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Given that one of the most powerful predictors of adult crime is the presence of behavior problems in childhood and adolescence, there is a need to further understand factors that determine behavior patterns during this developmental stage. This study focuses on stressful life experiences such as exposure to delinquent peers, racial discrimination, as well as family characteristics such as parenting style and family transitions. Data come from four waves of the Family and Community Health Survey, an African-American sample. The present study investigates 354 males from this dataset. We utilize a group-based trajectory model to estimate the number and type of trajectories of delinquency. We then estimate multinomial regression models to predict trajectory group membership. The results indicated that there were four distinct groups of offenders (negligible delinquents; early starter/declining; late starter; and early starter/chronic offenders). We predicted group membership using both early predictors and measures of change in these predictors across the study period. The results indicated that individuals who experience greater racial discrimination (both early in childhood and throughout adolescence) are more likely to be in trajectory groups that begin offending early and persist through adolescence. Additionally, those respondents who reported having friends with greater delinquent behavior were more likely to be in groups that began their offending early in life and persisted when compared to groups who started later or desisted as they entered adulthood. The results contribute to developmental research and provide information that may be helpful in preventing adolescents from persisting in antisocial behavior as they enter adulthood.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Factors that Influence Trajectories of Delinquency Throughout Adolescence

Evans

Simons

2014

J Youth Adolescence

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“…Specifically, evidence from genetically-informed studies uniformly suggests that genetic influences on aggressive and delinquent behavior are indeed amplified when adolescents affiliate with deviant peers. These findings, which reflect what is termed a gene Â environment interaction (GÂE), are observed with adolescent samples even when controlling for rGE (Button et al, 2007). They are also observed with children.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 58%

Links between friends’ physical aggression and adolescents’ physical aggression

Vitaro

Brendgen

Girard

et al. 2016

International Journal of Behavioral Development

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Exposure to deviant friends has been found to be a powerful source of influence on children's and adolescents' aggressive behavior. However, the contribution of deviant friends may have been overestimated because of a possible non-accounted gene-environment correlation (rGE). In this study, we used a cross-lagged design to test whether friends' physical aggression at age 10 predicts an increase in participants' physical aggression from age 10 to age 13 years. Participants were 201 pairs of monozygotic twins who are part of the Quebec Longitudinal Twin Study. We performed two sets of analyses. In the first set of analyses, using twins as singletons, we found that teacher-rated friends' physical aggression predicted an increase in each twin's self-reported physical aggression from age 10 to age 13, above and beyond auto-regressive and concurrent links. Second, we used within-pair differences in regard to friends' physical aggression to predict an increase in within-pair differences in physical aggression, thus accounting for family-wide influences, including a likely rGE at age 10. No significant association was found, however. These results suggest that part of the influence attributed to friends in past studies may have been due to common underlying genetic effects on both physical aggression and association with physically aggressive friends.

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“…A consequence of being rejected by ''normally'' developing children might be affiliating with deviant peers, which then provides new opportunities to engage in antisocial activities. Twin studies have revealed that the contribution of genetic factors to aggression increases with higher levels of deviant behavior in the peer group of a child or adolescent (Brendgen et al 2008a;Button et al 2007). Moreover, aggressive friends enhanced the likelihood of antisocial behavior especially in children with a high genetic risk (van Lier et al 2007).…”

Section: Behavioral Genetic Studies Of G 3 Ementioning

confidence: 98%

Gene–Environment Interactions in the Etiology of Human Violence

Laucht

Brandeis

Zohsel

2013

Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences

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This chapter reviews the current research on gene-environment interactions (G × E) with regard to human violence. Findings are summarized from both behavioral and molecular genetic studies that have investigated the interplay of genetic and environmental factors in terms of influencing violence-related behavior. Together, these studies reveal promising evidence that genetic factors combine with environmental influences to impact on the development of violent behavior and related phenotypes. G × E have been identified for a number of candidate genes implicated in violence. Moreover, the reviewed G × E were found to extend to a broad range of environmental characteristics, including both adverse and favorable conditions. As has been the case with other G × E research, findings have been mixed, with considerable heterogeneity between studies. Lack of replication together with serious methodological limitations remains a major challenge for drawing definitive conclusions about the nature of violence-related G × E. In order to fulfill its potential, it is recommended that future G × E research needs to shift its focus to dissecting the neural mechanisms and the underlying pathophysiological pathways by which genetic variation may influence differential susceptibility to environmental exposures.

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Delinquent peer affiliation and conduct problems: A twin study.

Cited by 77 publications

References 62 publications

Factors that Influence Trajectories of Delinquency Throughout Adolescence

Factors that Influence Trajectories of Delinquency Throughout Adolescence

Links between friends’ physical aggression and adolescents’ physical aggression

Gene–Environment Interactions in the Etiology of Human Violence

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