Department of Criminal Justice, Pennsylvania State University, Abington, 1600 Woodland Road, Abington, PA, 19001, USA,
J Youth Adolesc. 2015 Jul;44(7):1413-27. doi: 10.1007/s10964-015-0299-8. Epub 2015 May 13.
An extensive line of research has identified delinquent peer association as a salient environmental risk factor for delinquency, especially during adolescence. While previous research has found moderate-to-strong associations between exposure to delinquent peers and a variety of delinquent behaviors, comparatively less scholarship has focused on the genetic architecture of this association over the course of adolescence. Using a subsample of kinship pairs (N = 2379; 52% female) from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-Child and Young Adult Supplement (CNLSY), the present study examined the extent to which correlated individual differences in starting levels and developmental growth in delinquent peer pressure and self-reported delinquency were explained by additive genetic and environmental influences. Results from a series of biometric growth models revealed that 37% of the variance in correlated growth between delinquent peer pressure and self-reported delinquency was explained by additive genetic effects, while nonshared environmental effects accounted for the remaining 63% of the variance. Implications of these findings for interpreting the nexus between peer effects and adolescent delinquency are discussed.
大量研究表明，不良同伴关系是犯罪的一个显著环境风险因素，尤其是在青少年时期。虽然之前的研究发现，接触不良同伴与各种犯罪行为之间存在中度到高度的关联，但相对较少的研究关注青少年时期这种关联的遗传结构。本研究使用来自全国青年纵向调查-儿童和青年成人补充调查（CNLSY）的亲属对样本（N=2379；52%为女性），考察了在不良同伴压力和自我报告的犯罪行为的起始水平和发展性增长中，相关个体差异在多大程度上可以用加性遗传和环境影响来解释。一系列生物计量增长模型的结果表明，不良同伴压力和自我报告的犯罪行为之间相关增长的方差中有 37%可以用加性遗传效应来解释，而非共享环境效应则解释了剩余的 63%的方差。讨论了这些发现对解释同伴效应和青少年犯罪之间关系的意义。
