RISK FACTORS FOR ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR

众所周知，人类的攻击性和反社会行为是社会和生物风险因素的产物。目前还不清楚的是，环境和遗传因素如何调节这些风险因素和反社会后果之间的相互关系。对双胞胎及其家庭的研究将为回答这方面的关键问题提供理想的机会：所测量的社会和生物变量是否与由于环境或遗传原因而产生的反社会发展有关？我们开发有效的反社会行为干预措施的能力在很大程度上取决于这个问题的答案。对600对双胞胎(包括男性和女性)进行了一项反社会和攻击行为的正常变异研究，这些双胞胎在初始评估时年龄为9-10岁，在后续评估中年龄为11-12岁。这项研究将提供第一次机会，调查导致男孩和女孩的非法、反社会和攻击性行为对青春期风险的重要社会和生物风险因素的环境和遗传基础。社会风险因素将包括家庭环境的各个方面，如社会经济状况、情感氛围、凝聚力、父母的温暖和爱、父母的监督、纪律和控制。还将研究每一对双胞胎的特定环境因素，包括与每个家庭成员的个人关系，以及同龄人群体特征。生物风险因素将包括唤醒的心理生理学指标(包括电皮肤和心脏通道)，以及神经心理和认知测试。这里研究的社会和生物风险因素此前都被证明可以区分攻击性和反社会行为的高风险和低风险儿童。双胞胎设计允许独特的场合估计环境和遗传因素对反社会行为及其风险因素的相对贡献，以及它们之间的相互关系。尤其重要的是，反社会行为与生物和社会风险因素之间的联系，如果它们存在于本样本中，是否由遗传或环境因素调节。DNA样本将通过漱口水程序提取，并将用于两个目的。首先，将使用聚合酶链式反应测试400对同性伴侣的合子性。然后，剩余的DNA将被储存起来，用于未来对特定遗传基因座的分析，这些基因座被假设为与反社会行为有关。我们预计，到这个项目结束时，将有大量的候选基因被建议用于反社会结果。在这一点上，将寻求额外的资金，以利用该项目产生的丰富数据来源确认这些关联。对攻击性和其他形式的反社会行为的潜在生物学和遗传机制的详细了解将有助于更好地理解社会变量如何反过来与反社会结果相关，最终使人们能够更好地控制这一重要的社会现象。

Human aggression and antisocial behavior are known to be the product of both social and biological risk factors. What is not yet understood is how environment and genetic factors may mediate the interrelationships among these risk factors and antisocial outcomes. A study of twins and their families would provide the ideal opportunity to answer the critical question in this regard: Do measured social and biological variables relate to antisocial development for environment or genetic reasons? Our ability to develop effective and efficient interventions for antisocial behavior rest heavily upon the answer to this question. A study of normal variation in antisocial and aggressive behavior is proposed for 600 twin pairs (both male and female), aged 9-10 years old during an initial assessment, and aged 11-12 years old during a follow-up assessment. The study will provide the first opportunity to investigate the environmental and genetic underpinnings of important social and biological risk factors for unlawful, antisocial and aggressive behavior in boys and girls on the risk of adolescence. Social risk factors will include aspects of the family environment, such as socio-economic status, emotional climate, cohesion, parental warmth and affection, parental supervision, discipline and control. Specific environmental factors for each twin will also be studied including individual relationships with each family member, as well as peer-group characteristics. Biological risk factors will include psychophysiological indicators of arousal (both electrodermal and cardiac channels), as well as neuropsychological and cognitive testing. Both the social and biological risk factors studied here have previously been shown to distinguish between children at high and low risk for aggressive and antisocial behavior. The twin design allows the unique occasion to estimate the relative contributions of environmental and genetic factors to both antisocial behavior and their risk factors, as well as their interrelationships. Of particular importance are whether the links between antisocial behavior with biological and social risk factors, if they exist in this sample, are mediated by genetic or environmental factors. DNA samples will be extracted through mouthwash procedures and will serve two purposes. First, zygosity determination will be made using PCR tests for the 400 same-sex pairs. Then, the remaining DNA will be stored for future analyses of specific genetic loci hypothesized to show associations with antisocial behaviors. We anticipate that by the end of this project, a substantial number of candidate genes will be suggested for antisocial outcomes. At that point, additional funding will be sought to confirm these associations using the rich data source resulting from this project. Detailed knowledge of the underlying biological and genetic mechanisms in aggressive and other forms of antisocial behavior will lead to a greater understanding of how social variables in turn are related to antisocial outcomes, ultimately enabling greater control of this important social phenomenon.