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Biosocial studies of antisocial and violent behavior in children and adults: a review - 1

Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, August, 2002 by Adrian Raine

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An interaction of a different kind was also reported by Christiansen (1977) in an analysis of Danish twin data on criminality. Although overall he found significant heritability for crime, he also found that such heritability was greater in (a) those from high socioeconomic backgrounds and (b) those who were rural born. In other words, these sociodemographic variables moderated heritability for criminal behavior. This finding is of interest because, as will be seen below, it has also been found on several occasions with respect to psychophysiological and brain imaging studies. This suggests that stronger biology-antisocial findings can be found in social contexts where social predispositions to crime are minimized.

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PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY

Psychophysiological characteristics are prime candidates for possible interaction effects with psychosocial variables because, as the name implies, they tap the dynamic interface between psychological processes and physiological processes. They also have significant heritability and are likely to provide one of the routes through which genetic influences on antisocial behavior find expression.

Moderating Effect of Benign Home Backgrounds: The Social Push Perspective

A number of studies have found that psychophysiological factors show stronger relationships to antisocial behavior in those from benign social backgrounds that lack the classic psychosocial risk factors for crime. For example, although in general resting heart rate level is lower in antisocial individuals, it is a particularly strong characteristic of antisocial individuals from higher social classes (Raine & Venables, 1984b), those from privileged middle class backgrounds attending private schools in England, (Maliphant, Hume, & Furnham, 1990), and those from intact but not broken homes (Wadsworth, 1976). One prospective study found that low resting heart rate at age 3 years related to aggression at age 11 years in Creole Mauritians from high but not low social classes (Raine, Reynolds, Venables, & Mednick, 1997). Increased heart rate variability (indexing increased vagal tone and related to reduced heart rate level) was found to relate positively to aggression in young adults who had not been victims of vi olence, but not in those who were victims of violence; in this study moderating effects were not observed for resting heart rate (Scarpa, Romero, Fikretoglu, Bowser, & Wilson, 1999). Similarly, with respect to electrodermal classical conditioning, reduced skin conductance activity characterizes antisocial adolescents from high but not low social classes (Raine & Venables, 1981), criminals without a childhood history broken by parental absence and disharmony (Hemming, 1981), and "privileged" (high SES) offenders who commit crimes of evasion (Buikhuisen, Bontekoe, Plas-Korenhoff, & Van Buuren, 1984). In children, reduced skin conductance orienting to neutral tones at age 3 years is related to aggressive behavior at age 11 years, but only in those from high social class backgrounds (Raine, Reynolds, Venables, & Mednick, 1997). Similarly in adults, schizoid criminals from intact but not broken early home environments show reduced SC orienting (Raine, 1987).

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Biosocial studies of antisocial and violent behavior in children and adults: a review - 1

Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, August, 2002 by Adrian Raine

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