Kindergarten Children’s Genetic Vulnerabilities Interact With Friends’ Aggression to Promote Children’s Own Aggression - 12/08/11
, MICHEL BOIVIN, Ph.D., GINETTE DIONNE, Ph.D., FRANK VITARO, Ph.D., MARA BRENDGEN, Ph.D., HANS KOOT, Ph.D., RICHARD E. TREMBLAY, Ph.D., DANIEL PÉRUSSE, Ph.D.ABSTRACT |
Objective: |
To examine whether kindergarten children’s genetic liability to physically aggress moderates the contribution of friends’ aggression to their aggressive behaviors.
Method: |
Teacher and peer reports of aggression were available for 359 6-year-old twin pairs (145 MZ, 212 DZ) as well as teacher and peer reports of aggression of the two best friends of each twin. Children’s genetic risk for aggression was based on their cotwin’s aggression status and the pair’s zygosity.
Results: |
Children’s aggression was highly heritable. Unique environment accounted for most of the variance in friends’ aggression, although there was also a small genetic contribution (15%). Both genetic liability to aggression and having aggressive friends predicted twins’ aggression. However, the contribution of aggressive friends to children’s aggression was strongest among genetically vulnerable children. This result was similar for boys and girls, despite sex differences in both aggression and the level of aggression of friends.
Conclusions: |
Affiliation with aggressive friends at school entry is a significant environmental risk factor for aggression, especially for children genetically at risk for aggressive behaviors. Developmental models of aggression need to take into account both genetic liability and environmental factors in multiple settings, such as the peer context, to more precisely describe and understand the various developmental pathways to aggression. The implications for early prevention programs are discussed.
Le texte complet de cet article est disponible en PDF.Key Words: : twins, aggression, friends’ aggression, genotype-environment interaction
Plan
| This research was supported by grants from the National Health Research Development Program, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canada Research Chair program, the Fonds Québécois de la Recherche sur la Société et la Culture, and the Fonds de la Recherche en Santé du Québec. The authors are grateful to the participating families as well as to the authorities, directors, and teachers of the participating schools. They also thank Jocelyn Malo for coordinating the data collection, and Hélène Paradis, Bei Feng, Bernadette Simoneau, and Jacqueline Langlois for their assistance in data management and preparation. |
Vol 46 - N° 8
P. 1080-1087 - août 2007 Retour au numéro
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