Sex differences, assortative mating, and cultural transmission effects on adolescent delinquency: A twin family study
Abstract
The twin study literature contains inconsistencies regarding both the estimates of genetic, shared, and nonshared environmental influence on delinquency and sex differences in the etiological influences on delinquency. Additionally, little is known about assortative mating and cultural transmission effects on delinquency. The present study was aimed at examining the etiology of delinquency in adolescence and examining assortative mating and transmission effects. To this end, we applied the social homogamy structural equation model to self-reported delinquency data from 486 families with 17-year-old male and female twins. We expected stronger shared environmental influences on delinquency among girls than boys and stronger environmental than genetic effects on adolescent delinquency in general. The results indicated nonsignificant sex differences in the estimates of genetic and environmental influences on delinquency. The best-fitting model suggested that 18 %, 56 %, and 26% of the variance in delinquency among both boys and girls is associated with additive genetic, nonshared environmental, and shared environmental factors, respectively. This finding was consistent with our expectation that environmental factors play an important role in adolescent delinquency. Parental cultural effects accounted for a small part of the transmission of delinquency within families while assortative mating was, in part, accounted for by cultural and social background factors. Future work should focus on identifying important environmental factors related to delinquency.
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The random mating assumption is probably violated for antisocial and aggressive behavior, as significant spouse correlations have been found in this domain.
“This assumption is probably violated when it comes to antisocial and aggressive behavior, as significant spouse correlations have been found suggesting that assortative mating exists in this behavioral domain (Krueger et al., 1998; Maes et al., 2007; Taylor et al., 2000).”
From Human Aggression Across the Lifespan (2011) · cites this paper as Taylor et al., 2000
Taylor et al. (2000) found that parents of twins were correlated for retrospectively reported delinquency, with r = 0.23 in families of boys and r = 0.35 in families of girls, and concluded that assortative mating is modest.
“Taylor et al., 2000 found that parents of twins were correlated for retrospectively reported delinquency (r = 0.23 in families of boys and r = 0.35 in families of girls) and concluded that assortative mating is modest in degree.”
From Human Aggression Across the Lifespan (2011) · cites this paper as Taylor et al., 2000
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“This assumption is probably violated when it comes to antisocial and aggressive behavior, as significant spouse correlations have been found suggesting that assortative mating exists in this behavioral domain (Krueger et al., 1998; Maes et al., 2007; Taylor et al., 2000).”
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- Authors
- Taylor, J., McGue, M., & Iacono, W. G.
- Affiliations
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2000-05
- Volume
- 41
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 433-440
- ISSN
- 0021-9630 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-7610
- OpenAlex
- W2105463790
- Cited by
- 67
- References
- 16
- Citations by year
- 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 11.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (1k02aa000175-01)
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (AA-00175, AA-09367)
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA-05147)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Crime Patterns and Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending
- Keywords
- juvenile delinquency, sex differences, assortative mating, cultural transmission, heritability, shared environment, nonshared environment, twin families, social homogamy
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Cultural Characteristics, Female, Humans, Individuality, Male, Models, Genetic, Phenotype, Risk Factors, Selection, Genetic, Sex Factors, Social Environment, Twins, Dizygotic, Twins, Monozygotic, Genetic Predisposition to Disease
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