Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-22dnz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T10:53:41.725Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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: burts@msu.edu)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barker, ED, Seguin, JR, White, HR, Bates, ME, Lacourse, E, Carbonneau, R, Tremblay, RE (2007). Developmental trajectories of male physical violence and theft: relations to neurocognitive performance. Archives of General Psychiatry 64, 592–599.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barker, ED, van Lier, PAC, Vitaro, F, Nagin, DS, Assaad, J-M, Tremblay, RE, Ségiun, JR (2011). The neurocognition of conduct disorder behaviors: specificity to physical aggression and theft after controlling for ADHD symptoms. Aggressive Behavior 37, 63–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bartels, M, Hudziak, JJ, van den Oord, EJCG, van Beijsterveldt, CEM, Rietveld, MJH, Boomsma, DI (2003). Co-occurrence of aggressive behavior and rule-breaking behavior at age 12: multi-rater analyses. Behavioral Genetics 33, 607–621.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Breslau, J, Borges, G, Saito, N, Tancredi, DJ, Benjet, C, Hinton, L, Kendler, KS, Kravitz, R, Vega, W, Aguilar-Gaxiola, S, Medina-Mora, ME (2011). Migration from Mexico to the United States and conduct disorder: a cross-national study. Archives of General Psychiatry 68, 1284–1293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burt, SA (2009 a). Are there meaningful etiological differences within antisocial behavior? Results of a meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review 29, 163–178.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burt, SA (2009 b). Rethinking environmental contributions to child and adolescent psychopathology: a meta-analysis of shared environmental influences. Psychological Bulletin 135, 608–637.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burt, SA (in press). Evidence for meaningful etiological distinctions within the broader construct of antisocial behavior. In Behavior Genetics of Psychopathology (ed. Rhee, S. H. and Ronald, A.). Springer: New York.Google Scholar
Burt, SA (2012). How do we optimally conceptualize the heterogeneity within antisocial behavior? An argument for aggressive versus non-aggressive behavioral dimensions. Clinical Psychology Review 32, 263–279.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burt, SA, Barnes, AR, McGue, M, Iacono, WG (2008). Parental divorce and adolescent delinquency: ruling out the impact of common genes. Developmental Psychology 44, 1668–1677.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burt, SA, Donnellan, MB (2008). Personality correlates of aggressive and non-aggressive antisocial behavior. Personality and Individual Differences 44, 53–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burt, SA, Donnellan, MB (2009). Development and validation of the Subtypes of Antisocial Behavior Questionnaire. Aggressive Behavior 35, 376–398.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burt, SA, Donnellan, MB, McGue, M, Iacono, WG (2011). Age-of-onset or behavioral sub-types? A prospective comparison of two approaches to characterizing the heterogeneity within antisocial behavior. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 39, 633–644.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burt, SA, Donnellan, MB, Tackett, JL (2012). Should social aggression be considered ‘antisocial’? Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment 34, 153–163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burt, SA, Hopwood, CJ (2010). A comparison of two different approaches to characterizing the heterogeneity within antisocial behavior: age-of-onset versus behavioral sub-types. Journal of Personality Disorders 24, 272–283.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burt, SA, Larson, CL (2007). Differential affective responses in those with aggressive versus non-aggressive antisocial behaviors. Personality and Individual Differences 43, 1481–1492.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burt, SA, McGue, M, Krueger, RF, Iacono, WG (2007). Environmental contributions to adolescent delinquency: a fresh look at the shared environment. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 35, 787–800.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Button, TMM, Scourfield, J, Martin, N, McGuffin, P (2004). Do aggressive and non-aggressive antisocial behavior in adolescents result from the same genetic and environmental effects? American Journal of Medical Genetics 129B, 59–63.Google ScholarPubMed
DeMarte, JA (2008). The heterogeneity of antisocial behavior: evidence for distinct dimensions of physical aggression, rule-breaking, and social aggression. PhD dissertation, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI.Google Scholar
Eley, TC, Lichtenstein, P, Stevenson, J (1999). Sex differences in the etiology of aggressive and nonaggressive antisocial behavior: results from two twin studies. Child Development 70, 155–168.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frick, PJ, Lahey, BB, Loeber, R, Tannenbaum, L, Van Horn, Y, Christ, MAG, Hart, E, Hanson, K (1993). Oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder: a meta-analytic review of factor analyses and cross-validation in a clinic sample. Clinical Psychology Review 13, 319–340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gelhorn, HL, Stallings, M, Young, S, Corley, R, Rhee, SH, Hopfer, C, Hewitt, J (2006). Common and specific genetic influences on aggressive and non-aggressive conduct disorder domains. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 45, 570–577.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hewitt, JK, Silberg, JL, Rutter, M, Simonoff, E, Meyer, JM, Maes, H, Pickles, A, Neale, MC, Loeber, R, Erickson, MT, Kendler, KS, Heath, AC, Truett, KR, Reynolds, CA, Eaves, LJ (1997). Genetics and developmental psychopathology: 1. Phenotypic assessment in the Virginia Twin Study of Adolescent Behavioral Development. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 38, 943–963.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hopwood, CJ, Burt, SA, Markowitz, JC, Yen, S, Shea, MT, Sanislow, CA, Grilo, CM, McGlashan, TH, Gunderson, JG, Zanarini, MC, Skodol, AE, Morey, LC (2009). The construct validity of rule breaking and aggression in an adult clinical sample. Journal of Psychiatry Research 43, 803–808.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendler, KS, Aggen, SH, Patrick, CJ (2012). A multivariate twin study of the DSM-IV criteria for antisocial personality disorder. Biological Psychiatry 71, 247–253.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Klahr, AM, McGue, M, Iacono, WG, Burt, SA (2011). The association between parent-child conflict and adolescent conduct problems over time: results from a longitudinal adoption study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 120, 46–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lipsey, MW, Wilson, DB (2001). Practical Meta-Analysis. Sage Publications: Thousand Oaks, CA.Google ScholarPubMed
Loeber, R, Schmaling, KB (1985). Empirical evidence for overt and covert patterns of antisocial conduct problems: a meta-analysis. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 13, 337–352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moffitt, TE (1993). Adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent antisocial behavior: a developmental taxonomy. Psychological Review 100, 674–701.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moffitt, TE (2003). Life-course persistent and adolescence-limited antisocial behavior: a research review and a research agenda. In The Causes of Conduct Disorder and Serious Juvenile Delinquency (ed. Lahey, B., Moffitt, T. E. and Caspi, A.), pp. 49–75. Guilford Press: New York.Google Scholar
Moffitt, TE, Caspi, A, Harrington, H, Milne, BJ (2002). Males on the life-course persistent and adolescence-limited antisocial pathways: follow-up at age 26. Development and Psychopathology 14, 179–207.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Monuteaux, MC, Fitzmaurice, G, Blacker, D, Buka, SL, Biederman, J (2004). Specificity in the familial aggregation of overt and covert conduct diosrder symptoms in a referred attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder sample. Psychological Medicine 34, 1113–1127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagin, DS, Farrington, DP, Moffitt, TE (1995). Life-course trajectories of different types of offenders. Criminology 33, 111–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plomin, R, DeFries, JC, McClearn, GE, McGruffin, P (2008). Behavioral Genetics. Worth Publishers: New York.Google Scholar
Stanger, C, Achenbach, TM, Verhulst, FC (1997). Accelerated longitudinal comparisons of aggressive versus delinquent syndromes. Development and Psychopathology 9, 43–58.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tackett, JL (2010). A hierarchical structure of antisocial behavior and personality in children and adolescents. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Research in Psychopathology, Seattle, WA.Google Scholar
Tackett, JL, Krueger, RF, Iacono, WG, McGue, M (2005). Symptom-based subfactors of DSM-defined conduct disorder: evidence for etiologic distinctions. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 114, 483–487.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tackett, JL, Krueger, RF, Sawyer, MG, Graetz, BW (2003). Subfactors of DSM-IV conduct disorder: evidence and connections with syndromes from the Child Behavior Checklist. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 31, 647–654.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tremblay, RE (2003). Why socialization fails: the case of chronic physical aggression. In The Causes of Conduct Disorder and Serious Juvenile Delinquency (ed. Lahey, B., Moffitt, T. E. and Caspi, A.), pp. 182–224. Guilford Press: New York.Google Scholar
Tremblay, RE (2010). Developmental origins of disruptive behaviour problems: the ‘original sin’ hypothesis, epigenetics and their consequences for prevention. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 51, 341–367.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tuvblad, C, Narusyte, J, Grann, M, Sarnecki, J, Lichtenstein, P (2011). The genetic and environmental etiology of antisocial behavior from childhood to emerging adulthood. Behavior Genetics 41, 629–640.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Beijsterveldt, CEM, Bartels, M, Hudziak, JJ, Boomsma, DI (2003). Causes of stability of aggression from early childhood to adolescence: a longitudinal genetic analysis in Dutch twins. Behavioral Genetics 33, 591–605.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Hulle, CA, Rodgers, JL, D'Onofrio, BM, Waldman, ID, Lahey, BB (2007). Sex differences in the causes of self-reported adolescent delinquency. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 116, 236–248.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Verona, E, Patrick, CJ, Lang, PJ (2002). A direct assessment of the role of state and trait negative emotion in aggressive behavior. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 111, 249–258.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, DB (2005). Meta-analysis macros for SAS, SPSS, and Stata. Retrieved 22 January 2012, from http://mason.gmu.edu/∼dwilsonb/ma.html.Google Scholar