RISK FACTORS FOR ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR

人类的攻击和反社会行为是社会和生物风险因素共同作用的结果。目前尚不清楚的是，环境和遗传因素如何调节这些风险因素和反社会结果之间的相互关系。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：测量的社会和生物变量是否与环境或遗传原因导致的反社会发展有关？我们对反社会行为进行有效干预的能力在很大程度上取决于这个问题的答案。对600对9-10岁的双胞胎（包括男性和女性）进行初步评估，对11-12岁的双胞胎进行随访评估，研究其反社会和攻击行为的正常变异。这项研究将提供第一个机会来调查环境和遗传基础的重要社会和生物风险因素对男孩和女孩的非法、反社会和攻击性行为的风险。社会风险因素将包括家庭环境的各个方面，如社会经济地位、情感气候、凝聚力、父母的温暖和情感、父母的监督、纪律和控制。每个双胞胎的具体环境因素也将被研究，包括与每个家庭成员的个人关系，以及同伴群体特征。生物风险因素将包括觉醒的心理生理指标（包括皮肤电通道和心脏通道），以及神经心理学和认知测试。这里所研究的社会和生物风险因素之前已经被证明可以区分具有攻击性和反社会行为的高风险和低风险的儿童。双胞胎设计提供了一个独特的机会来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。特别重要的是，反社会行为与生物和社会风险因素之间的联系，如果在这个样本中存在，是否由遗传或环境因素介导。DNA样本将通过漱口程序提取，有两个目的。首先，对这400对同性染色体进行聚合酶链反应检测，确定合子性。然后，剩余的DNA将被储存起来，以供将来分析特定的基因位点，这些基因位点被假设与反社会行为有关。我们预计，在这个项目结束时，大量的候选基因将被提出反社会结果。届时，将利用本项目产生的丰富数据源寻求额外资金来确认这些关联。对攻击性和其他形式的反社会行为的潜在生物和遗传机制的详细了解，将使我们更好地理解社会变量反过来与反社会结果的关系，最终使我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.