Summery - Essay Example

Antisocial Behavior Link to Genetics A study pioneered by Sheilagh Hodgins of the of Montreal, shows that teenagers with three different common genes; MAOA, BDNF, and 5-HTTLPR, show different antisocial behavior levels depending on the environment they are brought up in either abusive or caring. These genes, if interacted with sexual abuse and family conflicts, they increased the possibility of delinquency and if with good parental care decreased delinquency. The study got publication in the International journal of Neuropsychopharmacology on 11th December (Amelia Para 3).

The implication of the study is to show that genes react with each other and environmental factors to show how fragile people are in that, if good things happen to people with these gene variants, the outcomes are better than average and if bad things happen the outcomes are worse than average (Amelia Para 5). The study was carried out on 1337 young school going people aged between 17 and 18 in Vastmanland, where the students completed a survey by answering questions about their relationships with parents, sexual abuse experience and delinquency levels, and saliva samples taken for determination of DNA.

In conclusion, individuals carrying less active variant of MAOA, show a greater level of crime and violent delinquency, and those who experience abuse in childhood, are likely to display antisocial behavior to their adulthood(Amelia Para 13). BDNF variant on the other hand was associated with aggressive behavior if the peers were exposed to aggressive peers and among carriers of HTTLPR, those exposed to adversity in childhood were more likely to show antisocial behavior. Exposure to stress was found to increase violence and delinquency among kids, and genes were found to affect brains, thereby behavior by altering sensitivity to environment (Amelia Para 17).

Works Cited:Amelia, Smith. New study reveals antisocial behavior is linked to genetics. 2014. Web 19th Jan 2015< http://www.newsweek.com/new-study-identifies-genes-interact-environment- increase-antisocial-behaviour-291937