Socialization, Selection, or Both? The Role of Gene–Environment Interplay in the Association Between Exposure to Antisocial Peers and Delinquency

Gendered Pathways Into Co-Offending Among a Sample of Adult Burglary and Robbery Offenders

“…The first is that co-offending comes about through social selection. As Hirschi (1969) argues, individuals with high criminal propensity choose to spend time with others like them, creating delinquent groups that commit crimes together (see also Haynie, Doogan, & Soller, 2014; Hoeben, Meldrum, Walker, & Young, 2016; Schwartz, Solomon, & Valgardson, 2019; Turanovic & Young, 2016). The second theory is that co-offending stems from the influence of one’s peers.…”

Further Evaluating the Relationship Between Adverse Childhood Experiences, Antisocial Behavior, and Violent Victimization: A Sibling-Comparison Analysis

“…Second, while existing research has used a range of multivariate statistical techniques to control for measurable confounds, no research within criminology has used a quasi-experimental, genetically informed research design to control for unobservable genetic and environmental confounds that may partly explain the relationship between ACEs, antisocial behavior, and future victimization. Of primary theoretical significance to this point, a long line of quantitative behavioral genetic research has now shown that correlations between environmental exposure and individual’s genetic risk for antisocial behavior and victimization are pervasive across the life course (Barnes & Beaver, 2012; Connolly & Beaver, 2015; D’Onofrio et al, 2016; Jaffee & Price, 2012; Kendler & Baker, 2007; Schwartz, Solomon, & Valgardson, 2017). A failure to control for familial confounds may therefore inflate associations between early-life exposures (i.e., ACEs) and life outcomes (i.e., antisocial behavior and victimization).…”

Longitudinal Links between Adolescent and Peer Conduct Problems and Moderation by a Sensitivity Genetic Index

“…Many studies of adolescent conduct problem behaviors have focused on elucidating the role of peers, and much of this work has focused on discriminating between selection and socialization processes. The culmination of this research indicates that both peer selection and socialization are important predictors of adolescent conduct problem behaviors (Schwartz et al, 2019) and that socialization may play a larger role during adolescence compared with adulthood (Samek et al, 2016). This research has also demonstrated that peer influences are not uniform across adolescents and genetically informed studies suggest that individual differences in genetic liability can explain at least some of this variability.…”

“…One possible reason for the null association between peer contact and change in adolescent externalizing behavior problems may be that lack of adult supervision and externalizing behavior problems of peers matters more than simply the amount time spent with peers (Osgood et al, 2015), consistent with the taxonomic model of adolescent antisocial behavior (Moffitt, 1993). In total, longitudinal models of peer influence on antisocial behaviors indicate that both peer socialization and selection processes are important for adolescent conduct problems (see Schwartz, Solomon, & Valgardson, 2019 for a review) and that at least some research indicates socialization has a relatively stronger impact during adolescence compared to adulthood.…”