Disadvantaged Neighborhoods and Adolescent Aggression: Behavioral Genetic Evidence of Contextual Effects

This study used behavioral genetic methods to examine differences in genetic and environmental influences on adolescent aggression across adequate and disadvantaged neighborhoods. Analyses used National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health data from 2,342 monozygotic twin, dizygotic twin, full‐sibling, and half‐sibling pairs classified into structurally adequate and disadvantaged neighborhoods according to Census data on the proportion of single‐parent households with children, proportion of families in poverty, and unemployment levels in sibling pairs' block groups. Separately estimating genetic and environmental influences across adequate and disadvantaged neighborhoods revealed that although genetic influences are significant in both adequate and disadvantaged neighborhoods, shared environmental influences (e.g., family influences shared by siblings) were significant only among adolescents from disadvantaged neighborhoods. These results provide insight into differences in individual‐level influences that contribute to adolescent aggression within these different types of neighborhoods. Significant shared environmental influences in disadvantaged neighborhoods suggest the importance of family processes is increased by neighborhood disadvantage.     

Perceptions of motives in intimate partner violence: expressive versus coercive violence

This study examined perceptions of motives in the perpetration of intimate partner violence. Respondents (N = 401) of diverse professions read three vignettes and indicated their perception of the aggressor's motive (from 1 = Exclusively Expressive; 5 = Exclusively Coercive). Half of respondents read vignettes describing male-perpetrated violence against a female partner; the other half, female-perpetrated violence against a male partner. Overall, male-perpetrated aggression was seen as more coercive than female-perpetrated aggression, particularly by shelter workers and victim advocates. Further analyses revealed that men generally gave higher ratings than women, and that women rated female-perpetrated aggression as less coercive than male-perpetrated aggression. In contrast, men did not differ in their ratings of male versus female perpetration. Implications are discussed with respect to the assessment and treatment of partner violence.     

Trait anger as a mediator of difficulties with emotion regulation and female-perpetrated psychological aggression

Recent research has demonstrated the devastating impact of female-perpetrated psychological aggression in intimate relationships broadly and dating relationships specifically. With the perpetration of psychological aggression in dating relationships occurring at shockingly high rates, prevention programming for dating violence should target this form of aggression. Toward this end, it is important to understand the antecedent conditions that increase one's risk for perpetrating psychological aggression. This study sought to examine two possible risk factors for perpetrating psychological aggression among female undergraduates (N = 145), namely, emotion regulation and trait anger. Findings showed that difficulties with emotion regulation and trait anger were associated with increased psychological aggression perpetration, and trait anger mediated the link between emotion regulation and psychological aggression. Implications of these findings for prevention programming and future research are discussed.     

“Sugar and Spice But Not Always Nice”: Gender Socialization and its Impact on Development and Maintenance of Aggression in Adolescent Girls

Aggression in girls is a problem that is gaining increased attention. The indirect forms of relational aggression historically used by girls to harm their victims are increasingly escalating into physical altercations. An understanding of the interplay between the developmental and contextual factors that contribute to learned aggression in girls is needed to inform program development that truly responds to the unique gender socialization of girls. This article examines parental, environmental, and peer factors for their contributions to the development of girls’ aggression. Implications for program development that teaches girls and their families alternative ways of expressing their needs and protecting themselves from harm is discussed.     

The relationship of intimate partner aggression to head injury, executive functioning, and intelligence

Measures of head injury, executive functioning, and intelligence were given to a community sample composed of 102 male perpetrators of intimate partner aggression (IPA) and 62 nonaggressive men. A history of head injury and lower mean score on a measure of verbal intelligence were associated with the frequency of male-perpetrated physical IPA as reported by male perpetrators and their female partners. Lower mean scores on a measure of verbal intelligence also predicted frequency of psychological IPA perpetration. Using the perpetrator subtypes outlined by Holtzworth-Munroe et al. (2000), analyses revealed that compared with other groups, the most severely aggressive subtypes (i.e., borderline-dysphoric and generally violent-antisocial) were the most likely to report a history of head injury and to have significantly lower mean scores on a neuropsychological test of verbal intelligence. The possible role of neuropsychological factors in IPA perpetration and implications for prevention and intervention programs are discussed.     

Social Environmental Variation, Plasticity Genes, and Aggression: Evidence for the Differential Susceptibility Hypothesis

Although G×E studies are typically based on the assumption that some individuals possess genetic variants that enhance their vulnerability to environmental adversity, the differential susceptibility perspective posits that these individuals are simply more susceptible to environmental influence than others. An important implication of this model is that those persons most vulnerable to adverse social environments are the same ones who reap the most benefit from environmental support. The present study tested several implications of this proposition. Using longitudinal data from a sample of several hundred African Americans, we found that relatively common variants of the dopamine receptor gene and the serotonin transporter gene interact with social environmental conditions to predict aggression in a manner consonant with differential susceptibility. When the social environment was adverse, individuals with these genetic variants manifested more aggression than other genotypes, whereas when the environment was supportive they demonstrated less aggression than other genotypes. Further, we found that these genetic variants interact with environmental conditions to foster various cognitive schemas and emotions in a manner consistent with differential susceptibility and that a latent construct formed by these schemas and emotions mediated the effect of gene by environment interaction on aggression.     

A behavior genetic analysis of the tendency for youth to associate according to GPA

Behavior genetic research has revealed that many “environmental” variables are partially influenced by genetic factors. Known as gene–environment correlation (rGE), this line of scholarship provides insight on how and why individuals select into certain environments. Juxtaposing this body of evidence with research on peer group homophily—the tendency for peers to resemble one another on certain traits such as academic ability—raised two research hypotheses: (1) youth will associate with peers who receive grades similar to themselves (i.e., homophily for GPA); and (2) a portion of the variance in peer group GPA (i.e., the peer network average GPA) will be explained by individuals’ genetic self-selection into the peer group (rGE). The results supported both hypotheses by showing a strong predictive relationship between the target individual's GPA and that of his/her peers and by revealing that 72% of the variance in peer group GPA was explained by genetic influences.     

Implications of Childhood Externalizing Problems for Young Adults

This study uses data from a national sample of married individuals and their offspring to explore the relationships between childhood externalizing problems and adult psychological well‐being, social support, and intimate relationship quality. The results indicate that childhood problems predict lower levels of adult psychological well‐being, kin support, and relationship quality. The relationship between childhood problems and adult intimate relationship quality, and that between childhood problems and later parent‐child relationship quality, is explained after accounting for the reciprocal influences of childhood problems and the quality of teen parent‐child relations. This finding suggests that the best way for parents to prevent and offset their offspring's difficulties is to maintain quality relationships with them.     

The roles and rules of law in sexual development

This article provides an overview of the diverse sources of law that regulate sexual development and its resulting behaviors, dispositions, and outcomes. After exploring how the law influences sexuality by regulating families, schools, media, and social service delivery, the article examines the role of criminal and civil law in regulating partners influences on sexual relationships. The article then briefly analyses how the law influences the manner individuals themselves influence their intimate relationships and social environments. The article emphasizes that the necessary brevity of the overview masks many complexities but that existing laws and trends highlight how the law plays a dominant role in our lives, how the law seeks to promote certain dispositions, that the law must be harnessed to foster healthy relationships, and that contending with the law s dictates provides social scientists with important opportunities to foster social reform and structure healthy, supportive social environments conducive to responsible behaviors, attitudes, and dispositions.     

Insecure Attachment Behavior and Partner Violence: Incorporating Couple Perceptions of Insecure Attachment and Relational Aggression

Intimate partner violence and insecure attachment are therapeutically relevant concepts when working with couples. The link between attachment and intimate partner violence has been examined in the literature, but an area of aggression that often goes unexamined is relational aggression, or using third parties as a means of being aggressive toward a partner. We asked how participants' attachment behaviors were related to their own and partners' relational and physical aggression. We used structural equation modeling to estimate actor–partner interdependence among these relationships in 644 heterosexual couples. Results indicated significant partner paths from attachment to relational aggression, as well as significant actor paths between relational aggression and physical aggression. Implications were discussed. Data for this study were collected from the RELATE assessment.     

Does Marriage Moderate Genetic Effects on Delinquency and Violence?

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 1,254), the authors investigated whether marriage can foster desistance from delinquency and violence by moderating genetic effects. In contrast to existing gene–environment research that typically focuses on one or a few genetic polymorphisms, they extended a recently developed mixed linear model to consider the collective influence of 580 single nucleotide polymorphisms in 64 genes related to aggression and risky behavior. The mixed linear model estimates the proportion of variance in the phenotype that is explained by the single nucleotide polymorphisms. The authors found that the proportion of variance in delinquency/violence explained was smaller among married individuals than unmarried individuals. Because selection, confounding, and heterogeneity may bias the estimate of the Gene × Marriage interaction, they conducted a series of analyses to address these issues. The findings suggest that the Gene × Marriage interaction results were not seriously affected by these issues.     

Attentional Control Explains Covariation Between Symptoms of Attention‐Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Anxiety During Adolescence

Symptoms of attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and anxiety are common during adolescence and frequently co‐occur. However, the genetic and environmental influences that underlie this co‐occurrence are understudied. Using a large twin sample (N = 1,017), we examined cross‐sectional genetic and environmental influences on ADHD and anxiety symptoms during childhood. We also explored whether these influences were shared with attentional control, a putative mechanism for symptom comorbidity. We found evidence for common genetic and nonshared environmental influences on the covariation among attentional control, ADHD, and anxiety symptoms, supporting the putative role of attentional control as a mechanism by which comorbid problems may develop. Genetic factors also accounted for symptom co‐occurrence after controlling for covariation with attentional control, suggesting the presence of additional unmeasured mechanisms.     

A Genetically Informed Study of the Intergenerational Transmission of Marital Instability

Environmental or genetic influences, or both could account for the increased risk of divorce among the offspring of separated parents. Previous studies have used covariates to statistically control for confounds, but the present research is the first genetically informed study of the topic. The investigation used the Children of Twins Design with twins, their spouses, and their young adult offspring (n = 2,310) from the Australian Twin Registry to test whether selection on the basis of genetic or shared environment factors accounted for part of the intergenerational association. The analyses also controlled for measured characteristics of both parents. The results suggest that both environmentally mediated and genetic risk account for the intergenerational transmission, supporting the roles of both selection and causation.     

“My Adoptive Father”

Abstract

Gay men's intimate life worlds have been the topic of some empirical inquiry since the late twentieth century. Drawing on the symbolism of love, friendship, and biology, these studies discuss the recent changes in queer communities that have shaped contemporary discourse about gay and lesbian family life. What appears missing in these intimate accounts are the lesser known readings of gay male intimate relationships which are both sensitive to the complex, interactive, and often contradictory experiences of everyday family life and attentive to the contextual ways these stories become constructed. This paper is a presentation of an experimental case study narrative which grapples with the practical, everyday considerations of what it means to create and sustain a supportive familial relationship between two gay men. Documenting the complexities of this contemporary familial arrangement provides us with some important opportunities for gay storytelling. In this instance, it allowed the author to better understand how two gay men like Ted and Simon came to construct their own notions of a father-son relationship. It also encourages us to explore how new gay identities and relationships are forged and negotiated over time through the biographical lens of family membership.     

Predicting Korean Adolescents' Sexual Behavior

Abstract

Using data from 370 adolescent males and 390 adolescent females, this study investigates factors associated with Korean adolescents' sexual behavior. The data showed that sixteen percent of the sample reported some type of intimate sexual behavior. The results from regression analyses indicate that alcohol use, dating mood, love for partner, similarity of sexual attitude between partners, and interaction between respondents' attitude on sex and alcohol use were significant predictors of Korean adolescents' sexual behavior with adjusted R² of .61. The factors significant for adolescents' sexual behavior differed by gender. The factors significant for adolescent males and adolescent females accounted for 65% and 61% of the explained variance for adolescent males' and adolescent females' sexual behavior, respectively. In both cases, dating mood was a strong predictor of adolescents' sexual behavior. Contrary to expectations specified, neither parental factors nor sibling influence was significant.     

Genetic Moderation of the Impact of Parenting on Hostility Toward Romantic Partners

Although gene × environment studies are typically based on the assumption that some individuals possess genetic variants that enhance their vulnerability to environmental adversity, the differential susceptibility model posits that these individuals are simply more sensitive to social context, whether that context be adverse or supportive. Thus, those persons most vulnerable to adversity are the same ones who reap the most benefit from support. This idea was tested using longitudinal data from a sample of several hundred African Americans. The findings indicated that relatively common variants of the GABRA2 gene interact with parenting to predict hostility toward romantic partners in a manner consonant with the differential susceptibility hypothesis. Individuals with these genetic variants displayed more aggression toward their partner than those with other genotypes when they had been subjected to harsh parenting, but they exhibited less aggression toward their partner than other genotypes if their parents had avoided harsh parenting practices.     

Sexual Coercion,Verbal Aggression,and Condom Use Consistency Among College Students

Abstract

Objective: The relationship between condom use and 2 less visible categories of intimate partner violence (IPV), sexual coercion and verbal aggression, was examined among college students. Methods: In March 2007 a random cross-sectional sample of undergraduates from the southeast region of the United States was taken to collect information about sexual coercion and verbal aggression, in addition to condom use consistency. Alcohol use was also assessed. Results: Of the 142 participants, 31.7% reported being victims of sexual coercion, and 78% reported having verbally aggressive partners. Participants who reported experiencing sexual coercion in their relationship were significantly less likely to consistently use condoms. Additionally, alcohol use before or during episodes of verbal aggression was negatively associated with condom use. Alcohol use was also significantly associated with heightened incidents of coercion and aggression. Conclusions: Results indicate that among college students, the presence of sexual coercion adversely affects condom use, as does alcohol use.     

Empathic Accuracy and Aggression in Couples: Individual and Dyadic Links

The authors examined links between intimate partner aggression and empathic accuracy—how accurately partners can read one another's emotions—during highly affective moments from couples' (N = 109) video recall of laboratory‐based discussions of upsetting events. Less empathic accuracy between partners was generally related to higher levels of aggression by both partners. More specific patterns emerged based on the type of aggression and emotion being expressed. Women's poorer ability to read their partners' vulnerable and positive emotions was linked to both men's and women's greater physical and psychological aggression. Moreover, women's inaccuracy in reading their partner's hostility was linked to women's greater psychological aggression toward the men. Men's inaccuracy in reading their partner's hostility was linked to women's (not men's) greater physical and psychological aggression. The results suggest important nuances in the links between empathic inaccuracy and aggression, and implications for prevention and treatment of partner aggression are discussed.     

Exploring Links among Imitation,Mental Development,and Temperament

Links among imitation, performance on a standardized test of intellectual development, and laboratory‐assessed temperament were explored in 311 24‐month‐old twin pairs. Moderate phenotypic associations were found among imitation, mental development, and temperament dimensions of Affect/Extraversion and Task Orientation. Covariance between imitation and mental development reflected genetic and shared environmental influences, whereas associations between imitation and temperament reflected genetic, shared, and nonshared environmental influences. Genetic factors linking imitation and temperament were the same as those linking temperament and mental development. Nonetheless, approximately 62% of total genetic variance on imitation was independent of genetic influences on mental development and temperament, suggesting that young children's imitation is not simply an index of general cognitive ability or dispositional style but has many underlying genetic influences that are unique.     

Women who use violence in intimate relationships: the role of anger, victimization, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress and depression

The present study examines the role of anger and victimization in women's use of aggression in heterosexual intimate relationships. The sample was composed of 108 women, primarily African American, urban, and poor, who had used violence against a partner in the previous 6 months. Path modeling was used to examine the interrelationships among anger, women's aggressive behavior, victimization, childhood abuse experiences, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress and depression. Results revealed that almost all of the women experienced violence from their partners. Greater frequency of victimization from partners and experiences of childhood abuse increased the likelihood that women would use aggression against their partners. Victimization from partners and childhood abuse also increased the likelihood that women would experience symptoms of posttraumatic stress and depression. Women with more symptoms of posttraumatic stress were also more likely to express anger outwardly towards others. Expressing anger outwardly toward others, in turn, predicted an increased likelihood of using aggression against partners.