In search of genes associated with risk for psychopathic tendencies in children: a two‐stage genome‐wide association study of pooled DNA
Abstract
Background Quantitative genetic data from our group indicates that antisocial behaviour (AB) is strongly heritable when coupled with psychopathic, callous-unemotional (CU) personality traits. We have also demonstrated that the genetic influences for AB and CU overlap considerably. We conducted a genome-wide association scan that capitalises on these findings in an attempt to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) that may increase risk for psychopathic tendencies (AB+/CU+). Methods Teacher ratings at age 7 were used to screen 8374 twins with available DNA samples for individuals that were high vs. low on both AB and CU. In Stage 1, we screened for allele frequency differences in 642,432 autosomal single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) using the Affymetrix 6.0 GeneChip with pooled DNA for high-scoring (AB+/CU+) versus low-scoring children (N = approximately 300/group). In Stage 2, we tested the 3000 most strongly associated SNPs from Stage 1 for association in the same direction in a second sample of high- versus low-scoring children from the same twin study (18% co-twins). Results Using allele frequencies estimated from pooled DNA, we found suggestive evidence for enrichment of association in the second stage of our two-stage genome-wide association design and focus on reporting the 30 top-ranking SNPs nominally associated with psychopathic tendencies. These SNPs include neurodevelopmental genes such as ROBO2. Conclusions Although none of the SNPs reached genome-wide statist…
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Other published genome-wide association studies of antisocial phenotypes did not report genome-wide significant associations.
“none of the other published GWAS studies Tielbeek et al. 2012(Tielbeek et al., 2012) (QIMR, N=4816, continuous measure of adult antisocial behaviour), Salvatore et al. 2015(Salvatore et al., 2015) (COGA, N=1379, continuous measure of adult antisocial behaviour, part of the present meta-analysis), Viding et al. 2010(Viding et al., 2010) (TEDS, N=1186 (Ncases=593), psychopathic tendencies) and Derr”
From Genome-Wide Association Studies of a Broad Spectrum of Antisocial Behavior (2017) · cites this paper as Viding et al., 2010
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- Authors
- Viding, E., Hanscombe, K. B., Curtis, C. J. C., Davis, O. S. P., Meaburn, E. L., & Plomin, R.
- Affiliations
- King's College London (GB)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2010-06-07
- Volume
- 51
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 780-788
- ISSN
- 0021-9630 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-7610
- OpenAlex
- W2131666979
- Cited by
- 83
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 8.10
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Bristol Research (University of Bristol) (publishedVersion)
- BIROn (Birkbeck, University of London) (submittedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion)
- Explore Bristol Research (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
- Wellcome Trust
- Medical Research Council
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Keywords
- psychopathic traits, callous-unemotional traits, antisocial behavior, heritability, genetic risk factors, quantitative trait loci, single nucleotide polymorphisms, pooled DNA, twins, Robo2, neurodevelopmental genes, child development
- MeSH terms
- Alleles, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Child, Diseases in Twins, England, Female, Gene Frequency, Genetic Markers, Genetic Testing, Genotype, Humans, Male, Personality Assessment, Psychometrics, Social Environment, Wales, Conduct Disorder, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Quantitative Trait Loci, Genome-Wide Association Study
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