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Do etiological influences on aggression overlap with those on rule breaking? A meta-analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 August 2012

S. A. Burt
S. A. Burt*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, USA
*
*Address for correspondence: S. A. Burt, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, 107D Psychology Building, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA. (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

Background

Although aggressive (AGG) and non-aggressive rule-breaking (RB) dimensions of antisocial behavior have been shown to be differentially heritable, available studies have disagreed on the extent to which the genetic and environmental factors influencing AGG also influence RB. The current meta-analysis sought to clarify the extent of etiological overlap between AGG and RB.

Method

Thirteen twin/sibling studies examining the covariation between AGG and RB were collected, of which 11 (with 12 independent samples) were ultimately included in the analyses (n=12923 twin/sibling pairs). Genetic and environmental correlations between AGG and RB served as study effect sizes. When squared, these correlations directly index the proportion of genetic and environmental overlap. Data were analyzed using mixed effect models.

Results

Analyses revealed that genetic influences on AGG were largely, but not entirely, distinct from those on RB: only 38.4% of the genetic influences on AGG overlapped with those on RB. Similarly, only 10.2% of the non-shared environmental influences on AGG overlapped with those on RB. Although the conclusion that etiological influences on AGG are partially distinct from those on RB persisted across several potential moderators, the age of the sample and the informant used were found to moderate the extent of overlap.

Conclusions

The findings underscore the presence of meaningful etiological distinctions between AGG and RB, and imply that future conceptualizations of antisocial behavior should be organized (at least in part) around the dimensions of AGG and RB.

Keywords

Aggressionantisocial behaviorgenetic and environmental influencesmeta-analysisrule breaking
Type
Review Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 43 , Issue 9 , September 2013 , pp. 1801 - 1812
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012 

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