Maternal age at first birth and offspring criminality: using the children of twins design to test causal hypotheses.
Maternal age at first birth and offspring criminality: using the children of twins design to test causal hypotheses.
复制标题
DOI：
10.1017/s0954579412000879
复制
发表时间：
2013-02
影响因子：
3.3
通讯作者：
D'Onofrio BM
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Coyne CA;Långström N;Rickert ME;Lichtenstein P;D'Onofrio BM
青少年生育是后代不良结局的一个风险因素，特别是后代的反社会行为。目前尚不清楚是否母亲的首次生育年龄（MAFB）与后代的反社会行为有因果关系，或者这种关联是由于选择因素，影响年轻女性过早分娩的可能性及其后代从事反社会行为。目前的研究通过使用瑞典国家登记处的纵向数据和兄弟姐妹的孩子和双胞胎的孩子的比较来确定MAFB和后代刑事定罪之间的关联与因果关系影响一致的程度，并通过使堂兄弟相似的遗传或环境因素混淆，解决了以前研究的局限性。我们发现，较早开始生育的母亲所生的后代比推迟生育的母亲所生的后代更有可能被定罪。差异暴露的堂兄弟姐妹，特别是出生不和谐的MZ双胞胎姐妹篇的比较结果，提供了支持MAFB和后代的刑事定罪之间的因果关系。分析还发现，由于被动的基因-环境相关性，几乎没有遗传混杂的证据。未来的研究需要复制这些发现，并确定介导这种因果关系的环境风险因素。
Teenage childbirth is a risk factor for poor offspring outcomes, particularly offspring antisocial behaviour. It is not clear if maternal age at first birth (MAFB) is causally associated with offspring antisocial behavior or if this association is due to selection factors that influence both the likelihood that a young woman gives birth early and that her offspring engage in antisocial behavior. The current study addresses the limitations of previous research by using longitudinal data from Swedish national registries and children-of-siblings and children-of-twins comparisons to identify the extent to which the association between MAFB and offspring criminal convictions is consistent with a causal influence and confounded by genetic or environmental factors that make cousins similar. We found offspring born to mothers who began childbearing earlier were more likely to be convicted of a crime than offspring born to mothers who delayed childbearing. The results from comparisons of differentially exposed cousins, especially born to discordant MZ twin sisters, provide support for a causal association between MAFB and offspring criminal convictions. The analyses also found little evidence for genetic confounding due to passive gene-environment correlation. Future studies are needed to replicate these findings and to identify environmental risk factors that mediate this causal association.