MAOA and the “Cycle of Violence:” Childhood Abuse and Neglect, MAOA Genotype, and Risk for Violent and Antisocial Behavior
Abstract
Background Two recent studies with white males have shown that genotypes associated with high levels of monamine oxidase A (MAOA) protect against the impact of childhood maltreatment and adversity on the development of antisocial behavior and conduct disorder.Methods Participants in a prospective cohort design study involving court substantiated cases of child abuse and neglect and a matched comparison group were followed up into adulthood and interviewed (N = 802). Eighty-two percent consented to provide blood and 631 gave permission for DNA extraction and analyses. A composite index of violent and antisocial behavior (VASB) was created based on arrest, self-report, and diagnostic information.Results No main effect was found for the relationship between MAOA genotype and VASB. Genotypes associated with high levels of MAOA activity buffered abused and neglected whites from increased risk of becoming violent and/or antisocial in later life. This protective effect was not found for non-white abused and neglected individuals.Conclusions Possible explanations for this differential effect for whites and non-whites include differences in contextual factors (e.g., environmental stressors) and a question of the suitability of using the MAOA promoter VNTR polymorphism as a proxy for MAOA levels in non-white populations.
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The majority of studies included only participants of European ancestry in order to limit spurious findings due to population stratification, and the results may not be generalizable to participants of other ancestries.
“While the majority of the studies included only participants of European ancestry (Table S2) in order to limit spurious findings due to population stratification, the results may not be generalizable to participants of other ancestries [63, 133].”
From Genetics of child aggression, a systematic review (2024) · cites this paper as [133]
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References 25 · Cited by 349
- Authors
- Widom, C. S., & Brzustowicz, L. M.
- Affiliations
- Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (US)
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US)
- Corresponding author
- Widom, Cathy Spatz
- Venue
- Biological Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2006-10
- Volume
- 60
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 684-689
- ISSN
- 0006-3223 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1984646819
- Cited by
- 349
- References
- 25
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 26 · 2015: 21 · 2014: 36 · 2013: 26 · 2012: 29
- FWCI
- 29.12
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Biological Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Rutgers University Community Repository (Rutgers University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA017842, DA10060)
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (AA09238)
- National Institute of Justice (86-IJ-CX-0033, 89-IJ-CX-0007, 93-IJ-CX-0031)
- Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (7-5502-NY-JN)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD40774)
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH49467, MH58386)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Keywords
- monoamine oxidase A, childhood abuse and neglect, child abuse, antisocial behavior, violent behavior, conduct disorder, gene-environment interaction, protective effect, racial differences, non-white populations, environmental stressors
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Black or African American, Child, Child Abuse, Double-Blind Method, Female, Hispanic or Latino, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Monoamine Oxidase, Polymorphism, Genetic, Promoter Regions, Genetic, Prospective Studies, Reference Values, Sex Factors, Violence, Cohort Studies, Chi-Square Distribution, Matched-Pair Analysis, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, White People
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