Gene by Social-Environment Interaction for Youth Delinquency and Violence: Thirty-Nine Aggression-related Genes

Exploring the Fetal Origins Hypothesis Using Genetic Data

Birth weight is a robust predictor of valued life course outcomes, emphasizing the importance of prenatal development. But does birth weight act as a proxy for environmental conditions in utero, or do biological processes surrounding birth weight themselves play a role in healthy development? To answer this question, we leverage variation in birth weight that is, within families, orthogonal to prenatal environmental conditions: one's genes. We construct polygenic scores in two longitudinal studies (Born in Bradford, N = 2008; Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, N = 8488) to empirically explore the molecular genetic correlates of birth weight. A 1 standard deviation increase in the polygenic score is associated with an ~100-grams increase in birth weight and a 1.4 pp (22 percent) decrease in low birth weight probability. Sibling comparisons illustrate that this association largely represents a causal effect. The polygenic score-birth weight association is increased for children who spend longer in the womb and whose mothers have higher body mass index, though we find no differences across maternal socioeconomic status. Finally, the polygenic score affects social and cognitive outcomes, suggesting that birth weight is itself related to healthy prenatal development.

A tale of tails: Nonlinear effects of ability rank on adolescent psychological well-being

Previous literature has documented the effect of cognitive ability on adolescent psychological well-being. This study extends this line of research by revealing the nonlinear effect of a student's ability rank within the peer group on adolescent depression. Using a nationally representative longitudinal survey of U.S. adolescents, we leverage a quasi-experimental research design to show that controlling for absolute ability, students with lower ability ranks are more likely to develop depressive symptoms. Moreover, this effect is nonlinear and more pronounced at the top and bottom of the ability distribution. We further examine two mediation mechanisms: social comparison and social relations. Results show that social comparison partly mediate the ability rank effect on depression at the top and bottom of the ability distribution; social relations, particularly care from teachers, partly mediate the rank effect at the top of the ability distribution. Findings may help design targeted initiatives to address adolescent depression.

Body Image Dissatisfaction and Aggressive Behavior Among Chinese Children at Different Pubdertal Stages: A Path Analysis

Background

Body image dissatisfaction and aggressive behavior have become important public health problem in children and adolescents, and body image dissatisfaction may increase the occurrence of aggressive behavior. The aim of this study was to explore the correlation between body image dissatisfaction and aggressive behavior among Chinese children in different developmental stages.

Methods

The stratified cluster sampling method was used to effectively survey 518 children aged 8–15 years. The Body Shape Questionnaire and the Buss-Warren Aggressive Questionnaire scale were used to measure body image dissatisfaction and aggressive behavior. Pubertal development stages were divided into three stages according to Tanner criteria.

Results

There was a main correlation path of body image dissatisfaction - hostility - anger - indirect aggression - physical aggression in boys with stage I and stage II and in girls with stage I and stage III. In addition, there were direct paths of hostility - indirect aggression, hostility - verbal aggression, anger - physical aggression, and anger - verbal aggression in boys with stage I; hostility - indirect aggression, hostility - verbal aggression, and anger - physical aggression in boys with stage II and in girls with stage I; and anger - physical aggression, and anger - verbal aggression in girls with stage III.

Conclusion

Body image dissatisfaction might positively correlate with aggression through hostility among Chinese children and adolescents, and their association paths were different in different puberty stages.

Gene-by-peer-environment interaction effects on cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana use among US high school students of European Ancestry

Research has shown that adolescents' substance use behavior is determined not only by individual characteristics but also by peer environments, and an emerging literature in social genomics has also found that individual genotypes moderate peer effects on egos' substance use. However, the previous literature on genetic by peer environment (GxPE) interaction effects is limited by the use of genetic measures with limited power and a lack of focus on causality. Based on a sample of about 4000 adolescents of European Ancestry from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, this study utilizes polygenic scores to examine GxPE interactions between ego's genetics and peers' cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana use. The results show peers' cigarette and marijuana use positively affect ego's substance use, and peer effects are stronger when the ego is genetically predisposed to substance use. However, genetic propensities toward risk tolerance are found to weaken the peer effects on the ego's marijuana use. Overall, our findings provide new evidence for the existence of GxPE effects on adolescent substance use and reveal the multidimensional nature of GxPE effects.

Incarceration, polygenic risk, and depressive symptoms among males in late adulthood

This study demonstrates how social and genetic factors jointly influence depression in late adulthood. We focus on the effect of incarceration, a major life event consistently found to be associated with mental health problems. Drawing on data from males in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study and the Health and Retirement Study, we conduct a polygenic score analysis based on a genome-wide association study on depressive symptoms. Our analysis produces two important findings. First, incarceration experience mediates the association between the depression polygenic score and depressive symptoms in late adulthood (i.e., greater polygenic scores are associated with elevated incarceration risk, which increases depressive symptoms in late adulthood). Second, about one-fifth of the association between incarceration experience and late-adulthood depressive symptoms is accounted for by the depression polygenic score and childhood depression. These findings reveal complex biological and social mechanisms in the development of depression and, more broadly, provide important insights for causal inference in social science research.

Explaining socioeconomic disparities in health behaviours: A review of biopsychological pathways involving stress and inflammation

The purpose of this article was to explore how individuals' position in a socioeconomic hierarchy is related to health behaviours that are related to socioeconomic disparities in health. We identified research which shows that: (a) low socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with living in harsh environments, (b) harsh environments are related to increased levels of stress and inflammation, (c) stress and inflammation impact neural systems involved in self-control by sensitising the impulsive system and desensitising the reflective system, (d) the effects are inflated valuations of small immediate rewards and deflated valuations of larger delayed rewards, (e) these effects are observed as increased delay discounting, and (f) delay discounting is positively associated with practicing more unhealthy behaviours. The results are discussed within an adaptive evolutionary framework which lays out how the stress response system, and its interaction with the immune system and brain systems for decision-making and behaviours, provides the biopsychological mechanisms and regulatory shifts that make widespread conditional adaptability possible. Consequences for policy work, interventions, and future research are discussed.

Teenagers and Precision Psychiatry: A Window of Opportunity

OBJECTIVE

Precision medicine raises hope for translating genetic-based knowledge about psychiatric risks into mental health benefits by motivating health-related, risk-reducing behaviors. Teenagers (ages 14-17) are an important age-group to engage in preventive efforts but, their views about psychiatric genetics are understudied.

METHOD

An online survey with a nationally representative sample of teenagers (n = 417) was conducted. Participants were randomly assigned to receive 1 of 2 handouts, 1 emphasizing the genetic underpinnings of psychiatric conditions; the other agency-oriented and focusing on gene-environment interactions. Survey questions queried their views about behavioral changes in response to psychiatric genetic risk information and expressed willingness to undertake them. Participants' decision-making characteristics (i.e., self-efficacy, empowerment, intolerance of uncertainty, and sensation-seeking) were assessed at baseline.

RESULTS

Teenagers strongly valued the information provided and its potential usefulness for their mental health. Information about psychiatric genetics alone impacted views about the causes of mental illness. Contrary to our hypothesis, the type of handout did not impact participants' expressed willingness to make behavioral changes to reduce their risk of developing a psychiatric condition, but their sense of empowerment played a key role in their responses.

CONCLUSION

Educating teenagers about gene-environment interactions may help facilitate the translational efforts of precision psychiatry. Research with teenagers across racial/ethnic groups, especially those with family histories, is needed to better understand the factors that impact teenagers' empowerment in psychiatric genomic settings and to identify measures, including the best enablers of empowerment (e.g., educators, parents), which would allow them to reap the benefits of precision psychiatry.

Delinquent Behavior: Systematic Review of Genetic and Environmental Risk Factors

Delinquency refers to a juveniles' behavior pattern characterized by repeated offending, and is regarded mainly in its social, but also criminal aspects. Delinquent and non-delinquent individuals may be a product of the same society or even the same family. Young individuals who are unable to find affection and protection within the family may become more susceptible to delinquency as a form of empowerment. More than socioeconomic conditions, the lack of interaction between parents and children, the existence of psychopathological problems in either parent, and academic problems, together with a biological vulnerability, may be deciding factors for the involvement of young individuals in delinquent behavior. This review aims to analyze the influence of environmental and genetic factors in the development of delinquent behavior. Studies related to the influence of the environment and genes on the development of delinquent behavior were obtained from multiple databases, through rigorous exclusion and inclusion criteria. Of the 152 documents retrieved, 87 were retained for further analysis, and 36 final studies were considered eligible for inclusion. In addition to these, ten studies were added trough manual search, with the final sample thus comprising 46 articles, published between 1983 and 2016. Objectives, methodological aspects (samples and instruments), and main conclusions were extracted from each study. Overall, the interaction between genetic and environmental factors appears to best explain the variation of delinquent behavior. Environmental risk factors may have differential effects on the behavior of individuals, particularly according to their genetic propensity for delinquency.

The Genome-Wide Study of Human Social Behavior and Its Application in Sociology

Recent years have seen a push for the integration of modern genomic methodologies with sociological inquiry. The inclusion of genomic approaches promises to help address long-standing issues in sociology (e.g., selection effects), as well as open up new avenues for future research. This article reviews the substantive findings of behavior genetic/genomic research, both from the recent past (e.g., twin/adoption studies, candidate gene studies) and from contemporary genomic analyses. The article primarily focuses on modern genomic methods available to sociologists (e.g., polygenic score analysis) and their various applications for answering sociological questions. The article concludes by considering a number of areas to which genomic researchers and sociologists should pay close attention if a consilience between genomic methods and sociological research is to be fully realized.

Genomic Essentialism: Its Provenance and Trajectory as an Anticipatory Ethical Concern

Since the inception of large-scale human genome research, there has been much caution about the risks of exacerbating a number of socially dangerous attitudes linked to human genetics. These attitudes are usually labeled with one of a family of genetic or genomic "isms" or "ations" such as "genetic essentialism," "genetic determinism," "genetic reductionism," "geneticization," "genetic stigmatization," and "genetic discrimination." The psychosocial processes these terms refer to are taken to exacerbate several ills that are similarly labeled, from medical racism and psychological fatalism to economic exploitation and social exclusion. But as genomic information becomes more familiar in clinical and research settings as well as other life activities, do we need to continue to worry so much about this family of attitudes and their impact on existing problems? In genomics, the underlying anxiety has been that disclosure of genomic information will trigger a series of (seemingly unavoidable) negative responses that will affect individuals, their families, and their communities at large. The fundamental social challenges that hyperbolic genomic messaging, low genomic literacy, and "folk biology" help sustain remain to be addressed. If we hope to break the cycle of genomic isms and ations, we will have to get better at resisting overinterpretations of the relevance that genomics has for people's future potentials, ancestral vulnerabilities, community memberships, and ethnic affiliations.

Violence exposure in an urban city: A GxE interaction with aggressive and impulsive behaviors

BACKGROUND

Previous research has demonstrated a reciprocal relationship between community violence exposure and disruptive behavior problems among youth. No study to date, however, has explored the potential interaction between violence exposure in early adolescence and genetics.

METHODS

We explore the gene x environment interaction's impact on teacher-rated aggressive and impulsive behaviors. Violence exposure during the middle school years was assessed using self-report. Genetic data collection occurred in emerging adulthood. A polygenic score was created using findings from a conduct disorder symptomatology genome-wide association study.

RESULTS

Three longitudinal classes of teacher reported aggressive and impulsive behavior were identified. We found a significant relationship between violence exposure and class membership. There was a significant GxE interaction, such that those with below average levels of the polygenic score and who were exposed to violence were more likely to be in the moderately high aggressive and impulsive class as compared to the no to low class.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings highlight the influence of genetic risk together with violence exposure on adolescent problem behavior. Although youth may have little control over the environments in which they live, interventions can and should focus on helping all youth.

The association between peer network centrality and aggression is moderated by moral disengagement

There is very little research on the dynamics of peer groups in schools and aggressive behavior among Chinese youth. In the present study, we investigated the link between pure indegree centrality and aggression (i.e., overt and relational aggression), and examined moderating effects of moral disengagement on this association, among Chinese adolescents in classes with different percentage of aggressors. Participants were 589 sophomore students (446 boys, 75.72% of sample; M_age  = 15.98, SD = 0.64) from 16 classes in one vocational secondary school. The results showed that the effects for overt and relational aggression were moderated by the proportion of aggressors within classes and moral disengagement. For students in classes with a higher density of aggressors, there was a strong positive association between pure indegree centrality and overt aggression (but not relational aggression) for those students with higher moral disengagement. Conversely, in classes with fewer aggressive students, the covariation between centrality and both overt and relational aggression was negative for students with higher moral disengagement. These findings are consistent with an ecological perspective on the development of aggression, which shows that aggregating aggressive students in school classes may strengthen the associations between peer dynamics, moral disengagement, and aggressive behavior.

Every contact leaves a trace: contact with the criminal justice system, life outcomes, and the intersection with genetics

Contact with the criminal justice (CJ) system is a relatively common occurrence in the United States. Criminologists and sociologists have long considered the impact of contact with the CJ system on later-in-life outcomes. This body of work has revealed a great deal of heterogeneity in life outcomes, suggesting individual differences are important to consider. At the same time, recent advances in the genomic sciences have allowed researchers to gather information from across the entire genome and to summarize that information into polygenic scores. In the present review, we consider how polygenic scores might be used to advance research into the impact of CJ system contact on life outcomes. In particular, we emphasize the importance of gene-environment interaction (G × E). We suggest that contact with the CJ system might represent a substantively important environmental moderator of polygenic risks. But we caution that studying the moderating role of contact with the CJ system will have its own complications-points that scholars must begin to consider and discuss now that the genomic era has reached the social sciences.

Behavioral Genetics in Criminal and Civil Courts

Although emerging findings in psychiatric and behavioral genetics create hope for improved prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disorders, the introduction of such data as evidence in criminal and civil proceedings raises a host of ethical, legal, and social issues. Should behavioral and psychiatric genetic data be admissible in judicial proceedings? If so, what are the various means for obtaining such evidence, and for what purposes should its admission be sought and permitted? How could-and should-such evidence affect judicial outcomes in criminal and civil proceedings? And what are the potential implications of using behavioral and psychiatric genetic evidence for individuals and communities, and for societal values of equality and justice? This article provides an overview of the historical and current developments in behavioral genetics. We then explore the extent to which behavioral genetic evidence has-and should-affect determinations of criminal responsibility and sentencing, as well as the possible ramifications of introducing such evidence in civil courts, with a focus on tort litigation and child custody disputes. We also consider two ways in which behavioral genetic evidence may come to court in the future-through genetic theft or the subpoena of a litigant's biospecimen data that was previously obtained for clinical or research purposes-and the concerns that these possibilities raise. Finally, we highlight the need for caution and for approaches to prevent the misuse of behavioral genetic evidence in courts.

A Genomically Informed Education System? Challenges for Behavioral Genetics

The exponential growth of genetic knowledge and precision medicine research raises hopes for improved prevention, diagnosis, and treatment options for children with behavioral and psychiatric conditions. Although well-intended, this prospect also raise the possibility-and concern-that behavioral, including psychiatric genetic data would be increasingly used-or misused-outside the clinical context, such as educational settings. Indeed, there are ongoing calls to endorse a "personalized education" model that would tailor educational interventions to children's behavioral and psychiatric genetic makeup. This article explores the justifications for, and prospects and pitfalls of such endeavors. It considers the scientific challenges and highlights the ethical, legal, and social issues that will likely arise should behavioral genetic data become available (or be perceived as such) and are routinely incorporated in student education records. These include: when to disclose students' behavioral and psychiatric genetic profile; whose genomic privacy is protected and by whom; and how students' genetic data may affect education-related decisions. I argue that the introduction of behavioral genetics in schools may overshadow the need to address underlying structural and environmental factors that increase the risk for psychiatric conditions of all students, and that the unregulated use of student behavioral genetic profiles may lead to unintended consequences that are detrimental for individuals, families and communities. Relevant stakeholders-from parents and students to health professionals, educators, and policy-makers-ought to consider these issues before we forge ahead with a genomically informed education system.

SLC6A3 Is Associated With Relational Aggression in Children

Abstract. Understanding the genetic influence on aggressive behavior in children is one way to understand pathways to the development of aggression in adults. While aggression is likely under some environmental influence, it is also likely under some genetic influence. Overt aggression associates with a variety of genes including dopaminergic and serotonergic genes. Dopaminergic and serotonergic genes are known to be associated with overt aggression. However, little is known regarding the genetic pathways associated with relational aggression. Detecting genetic associates of relational aggression is important to eventually understand pathways to socially aggressive behaviors in children. Therefore, we attempted to determine if relational aggression was also associated with dopaminergic and serotonergic genes. We invited the parents of 327 children to complete a modified version of the MacArthur Health and Behavior Questionnaire (HBQ-P), which has a subscale for relational aggression. We used logistic regression models that predicted relational aggression after controlling for covariates. One genetic predictor was added at a time until there was no model improvement. The covariates were overt aggression scores obtained from the HBQ-P and age. The final (best) model included as a significant predictor of relational aggression one single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) on SLC6A3 (rs2617605) and the covariates.

Opportunities and challenges of big data for the social sciences: The case of genomic data

In this paper, we draw attention to one unique and valuable source of big data, genomic data, by demonstrating the opportunities they provide to social scientists. We discuss different types of large-scale genomic data and recent advances in statistical methods and computational infrastructure used to address challenges in managing and analyzing such data. We highlight how these data and methods can be used to benefit social science research.