Genetic Epidemiology of Youth Conduct Problems

描述(由申请人提供)： 青少年行为问题是一个严重的公共卫生问题，但在了解其原因方面进展甚微。这项建议涉及青年行为问题的遗传流行病学，以促进对其原因的了解。我们建议分析国家青年纵向研究的数据，这是一个具有全国代表性的样本，于1979年首次采访了14-21岁的年轻人(NLSY79)。NLSY79包括4926名女性，年龄在37-45岁之间。自1986年以来，对这些妇女的所有子女进行了评估(NLSY79研究的子女)。现在可以获得5,122名子女从4岁到11岁的儿童行为问题的纵向数据，以及2,590名子女在青春期期间的违法行为数据。由于参与者既是纵向关系(母亲和子女)又是横向关系(完全兄弟姐妹、同父异母兄弟姐妹等)，他们的亲属关系使我们能够使用行为遗传学方法来研究遗传和环境对青少年行为问题的影响。我们将测试从行为问题起源的因果模型中得出的假设，该模型整合了社会学习理论、发展理论和行为遗传学的假设。我们的模型与T.E.Moffitt的断言相同，即青少年犯罪的原因对于遵循不同发展道路的年轻人来说是不同的。我们将通过确定遗传和环境对青少年犯罪的影响是否作为青少年犯罪水平的函数来对这一基本假设进行第一次强有力的检验 童年时期的行为问题。我们将考察行为问题发展中的性别差异，并测试可能存在的因果影响上的性别差异。行为遗传学分析通常将环境影响视为匿名的，但我们将通过遗传和环境相关性来估计一些对科学理论和公共政策都很重要的母亲、家庭和社区变量与青少年行为问题的因果关系的程度。这些因素包括母亲初次生育的年龄、母亲在怀孕期间吸烟、家庭社会经济地位、邻里社会经济地位、邻里社会组织混乱和城市化。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Youth conduct problems are a serious public health concern, but little progress has been made in understanding their causes. This proposal addresses the genetic epidemiology of youth conduct problems to advance knowledge of their causes. We propose to analyze data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth, which is a nationally-representative sample of 14-21 year olds first interviewed in 1979 (NLSY79). The NLSY79 includes 4,926 females who are now 37-45 years old. Since 1986, assessments have been conducted of all offspring of these women (Children of NLSY79 Study). Longitudinal data are now available on child conduct problems from ages 4 through 11 years for 5,122 offspring and on delinquent behavior through adolescence for 2,590 offspring. Because the participants are both vertically related (mother and offspring) and horizontally related (full siblings, half-siblings, etc.), their kinship links allow us to use behavior genetic methods to study genetic and environmental influences on youth conduct problems. We will test hypotheses derived from a causal model of the origins of conduct problems that integrates hypotheses from social learning theory, developmental theory, and behavior genetics. Our model shares T. E. Moffitt's assertion that the causes of adolescent delinquency are different for youth who follow different developmental pathways. We will provide the first strong test of this fundamental hypothesis by determining if genetic and environmental influences on adolescent delinquency vary as a function of the youth's level of conduct problems during childhood. We will examine sex differences in the development of conduct problems and test for possible sex differences in causal influences. Behavior genetic analyses typical treat environmental influences as anonymous, but we will estimate the extent to which a number of maternal, family, and community variables, which are important to both scientific theory and public policy, are causally related to youth conduct problems through genetic and environmental correlations. These include maternal age at first birth, maternal smoking during pregnancy, family socioeconomic status, neighborhood socioeconomic status, neighborhood social disorganization, and urbanicity.