Long-Term Consequences of Intimate Partner Abuse on Physical Health, Emotional Well-Being, and Problem Behaviors.

This study examines the physical health, emotional well-being, and problem behavior outcomes associated with intimate partner abuse (IPA) victimization and perpetration experiences by analyzing a nationally representative, prospective, and longitudinal sample of 879 men and women collected from the National Youth Survey Family Study (NYSFS) and assessed across a period of 9 years from 1993 to 2003. Using multivariate regression techniques, it was found that both men and women experience numerous negative outcomes associated with their IPA victimization and perpetration experiences. Implications of these findings are discussed, as are the study's limitations, and future research directions.

The Interplay of MAOA and Peer Influences in Predicting Adult Criminal Behavior.

Evidence concerning the ability of genetic risk factors to moderate the effects of environments has continued to accumulate over the last decade or so. For the behavioral sciences, this means that genetic risk factors might interact with environmental triggers to influence various human outcomes, including antisocial and aggressive behaviors. The current study seeks to further expand this line of inquiry by examining data drawn from the National Youth Survey Family Study. More specifically, we examined whether a polymorphism in the promoter region of the MAOA gene might condition the influence of exposure to deviant peer groups in the prediction of criminogenic behavior. Our findings offer some mixed evidence that genotype might condition the influence of delinquent peer affiliation on antisocial behavior during the course of human development.

Life Course and Intergenerational Continuity of Intimate Partner Aggression and Physical Injury: A 20-Year Study.

The objective of this study is to examine continuity of intimate partner aggression (IPA), which is defined as repeated annual involvement in IPA, across respondents' life course and into the next generation, where it may emerge among adult children. A national, longitudinal, and multigenerational sample of 1,401 individuals and their adult children is analyzed. Annual data on IPA severity and physical injury were collected by the National Youth Survey Family Study across a 20-year period from 1984 to 2004. Three hypotheses and biological sex differences are tested and effect sizes are estimated. First, findings reveal evidence for life course continuity (IPA is a strong predictor of subsequent IPA), but the overall trend decreases over time. Second, intergenerational continuity is documented (parents' IPA predicts adult children's IPA), but the effect is stronger for female than for male adult children. Third, results from combined and separate, more restrictive, measures of victimization and perpetration are nearly identical except in the intergenerational analyses. Fourth, evidence for continuity is not found when assessing physical injury alone. Together, these findings imply that some but not all forms of IPA are common, continuous, and intergenerational. Life course continuity appears stronger than intergenerational continuity.

Adolescent exposure to violence and adult illicit drug use.

Informed by a strain theory perspective, this study utilizes data on adolescent exposure to violence (AEV) from a prospective, longitudinal, national household probability sample that originally consisted of 1,725 respondents, first interviewed as adolescents in 1977 and last interviewed in middle adulthood in 2003. Findings from bivariate correlations and logistic regression models indicate that AEV is associated with both adolescent and adult illicit drug use, but some of the association between AEV and adult illicit drug use becomes nonsignificant when controlling for adolescent illicit drug use. Specific types of AEV associated with adult illicit drug use differ by gender. Implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.

Adolescent exposure to violence and adult physical and mental health problems.

Evidence on the relationship of adolescent exposure to violence (AEV) with adult physical and mental health problems is limited, with studies often focusing on earlier childhood rather than adolescence, and also on short term rather than long term outcomes. Information specifically on the relationship of AEV to seeking help for mental health problems in adulthood from either formal sources such as mental health professionals or informal sources such as friends and clergy is even more difficult to find. The present study investigates how adolescent exposure to violence (AEV), in the form of parental physical abuse, witnessing parental violence, and exposure to violence in the neighborhood, are related to self-reported adult physical problems and seeking formal or informal assistance with mental health, controlling for more general adolescent violent victimization and for self-reports and parent reports of mental health problems in adolescence. This study adds to the literature on AEV and adult physical problems, and provides a rare look at the relationship of AEV to adult help-seeking for mental health problems. The results suggest that AEV is associated with mental health problems in adolescence for both females and males, that for females AEV is related to physical problems and to seeking help for mental health problems in adulthood, but for males the only significant relationship involves inconsistent reports of witnessing parental violence and adult physical problems.

Genes in the dopaminergic system and delinquent behaviors across the life course: the role of social controls and risks.

This paper examines the interaction between social control and social risk mechanisms and genes within the dopaminergic system (DAT1 and DRD2) as related to serious and violent forms of delinquent behavior among adolescents and young adults. We use nine waves of data from the National Youth Survey Family Study to examine the relevance of protective or risky social factors at four social levels including school, neighborhood, friends, and family within the gene-environment interaction framework. We extend previous work in this area by providing a testable typology of gene-environment interactions derived from current theories in this area. We find consistent evidence that the associations between putatively risky genotypes and delinquent behavior are suppressed within protective social environments. We also provide some evidence that supports the differential susceptibility hypothesis for these outcomes. Our findings largely confirm the conclusions of previous work and continue to highlight the critical role of the social environment within candidate gene studies of complex behaviors.

Types of adolescent exposure to violence as predictors of adult intimate partner violence.

Despite evidence that exposure to violence in adolescence may be more predictive of problem behavior outcomes than exposure to violence in earlier childhood, there is limited research on the relationship of adolescent exposure to violence on adult intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration and victimization. This study examines the relationship of adolescent physical abuse victimization, witnessing parental violence, and adolescent exposure to violence in the community, to perpetration of and victimization by IPV in middle age. Respondents are drawn from a nationally representative longitudinal sample with data collected from 1976-77 to 2002-03, age 11-17 when first interviewed and 37-43 when last interviewed. Univariate descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations are presented, along with Heckman two-step models calculated separately for females and males. The use of the Heckman two-step model allows prediction not only of adult IPV, but also of selection out of intimate partner relationships (i.e., out of the at-risk population). For males, in the multivariate analysis, only physical abuse remains significant as a predictor. For females, adolescent exposure to violence is not predictive of adult IPV perpetration or victimization, but physical abuse is predictive of not being in the at-risk population (married or cohabiting). The combined index of adolescent exposure to violence is significant for both females and males in predicting selection into marriage or cohabitation, and at least marginally significant in predicting IPV.

Intergenerational continuity of substance use.

Guided by rigorous methodology and a life-course perspective, the goal of this research is to address a gap in current knowledge on whether, when, and how strongly intergenerational continuity of substance use exists when examining age-equivalent and developmentally specific stages of the life course. Annual self-reported substance use measures were analyzed from a prospective, longitudinal, and nationally representative sample that originally consisted of 1,725 respondents and their families, who were then interviewed over a 27-year period from 1977 to 2004. Findings from multilevel random-intercept regression models provide support for intergenerational continuity when substance use occurs in emerging adulthood but not when limited to adolescence. Implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.

The role of gene-gene interaction in the prediction of criminal behavior.

A host of research has examined the possibility that environmental risk factors might condition the influence of genes on various outcomes. Less research, however, has been aimed at exploring the possibility that genetic factors might interact to impact the emergence of human traits. Even fewer studies exist examining the interaction of genes in the prediction of behavioral outcomes. The current study expands this body of research by testing the interaction between genes involved in neural transmission. Our findings suggest that certain dopamine genes interact to increase the odds of criminogenic outcomes in a national sample of Americans.

Effects of adolescent physical abuse, exposure to neighborhood violence, and witnessing parental violence on adult socioeconomic status.

Research on the effects of adolescent physical abuse, witnessing domestic violence, and perceptions of community violence have generally, with few exceptions, found them to be predictive of subsequent negative behavioral outcomes, such as substance abuse, crime, and other problem behaviors. Less frequently studied is the relationship of these adverse adolescent experiences to adult socioeconomic statuses. This study utilizes longitudinal self-report data from the National Youth Survey Family Study to investigate how these three factors influence future socioeconomic statuses: marital status, educational attainment, employment, income, and wealth (net worth). Significant associations with adult socioeconomic statuses are found most often for physical abuse, but neighborhood violence is the only one of the three that is predictive of adult employment. Witnessing parental violence is associated with adult income and net worth. Limitations and policy implications of the present research, in the context of past research in this area, are considered.

AGE, CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION AND OFFENDING: CHANGING RELATIONSHIPS FROM ADOLESCENCE TO MIDDLE ADULTHOOD.

The finding that victims and offenders are often the same individuals has led to attempts at explaining the positive correlation between victimization and offending. Much of the evidence for the positive relationship between victimization and offending, however, was based on samples of adolescents and young adults, or on data with other limitations. In the present study, we use longitudinal self-report data on victimization and offending in a national probability sample to examine the impacts of victimization on offending and offending on victimization, controlling for sociodemographic and theoretical predictors of both, to see whether the relationship is consistent across the life course from adolescence to early middle age. The results suggest that the relationship between being a perpetrator and being a victim of crime changes over the life course, and that explanations for the victimization-offending relationship need to take this life course variation into account.

Distribution and Correlates of Self-Reported Crimes of Trust.

This study examines the distribution and correlates of a special class of property crimes, crimes of trust, using longitudinal and cross sectional self-report data from a national sample. We begin by defining crimes of trust and consider their conceptual relationship to "conventional" property crimes, which we here characterize as crimes of stealth, and to white collar crimes, which are defined in terms of the social status of the perpetrators. Crimes of trust are here defined as property crimes that typically involve deliberate contact with the victim or, where there is more than one victim, with at least one or more victims, in which there is typically more of a focus on concealing the fact that a crime has been committed than on concealing the identity of the perpetrator (as is the case in crimes of stealth), without regard to the socioeconomic status of the perpetrator (thus including but not limited to white collar crimes). The focus here is on crimes of trust committed by individuals (as opposed to corporate crime). We first examine their distribution by sociodemographic characteristics, then examine the correlation of crimes of trust with other types of illegal behavior, using data from the National Youth Survey Family Study, including (1) longitudinal self-report data from a nationally representative panel of individuals who were 11-18 years old in 1976-77 and who were followed through early middle age (ages 36-44) in 2002-2003, plus (2) cross-sectional data on these individuals plus their parents, spouses, and children age 11 and older in 2002-2003 (total age range 11-88). The results suggest that crimes of trust have a different age-crime curve from conventional crimes, and that they are not as strongly correlated with problem substance use, gender, and other socioeconomic indicators as conventional crimes.

Using trajectory analyses to refine phenotype for genetic association: conduct problems and the serotonin transporter (5HTTLPR).

BACKGROUND: Conduct disorder is a serious, relatively common disorder of childhood and adolescence. Findings from genetic association studies searching for genetic determinants of the liability toward such behaviors have been inconsistent. One possible explanation for differential results is that most studies define phenotype from a single assessment; for many adolescents conduct problems decrease in severity over time, whereas for others such behaviors persist. Therefore, longitudinal datasets offer the opportunity to refine phenotype. METHODS: We used Caucasians that were first assessed during adolescence from the National Youth Survey Family Study. Nine waves of data were used to create latent growth trajectories and test for associations between trajectory class and 5HTTLPR genotype. RESULTS: For the full sample, 5HTTLPR was not associated with conduct problem phenotypes. However, the short (s) allele was associated with chronic conduct problems in females; a nominally significant sex by 5HTTLPR genotype interaction was noted. CONCLUSION: Longitudinal studies provide unique opportunities for phenotypic refinement and such techniques, with large samples, may be useful for phenotypic definition with other study designs, such as whole genome association studies.

Between- and within-family association test of the dopamine receptor D2 TaqIA polymorphism and alcohol abuse and dependence in a general population sample of adults.

OBJECTIVE: Dopaminergic dysfunction has been hypothesized to play an important role in the etiology of alcohol-use disorders. A restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) in the 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) of the DRD2 gene affects gene expression and has been implicated as a risk factor for alcohol dependence. This polymorphism (TaqIA) has been reported as positively associated with alcohol-use disorders in case-control samples, but these results have not been replicated in family-based association studies. The mixed results of association between the DRD2 TaqIA polymorphism and alcohol-use disorders may be the result of differences in sample size, phenotype definition, heterogeneity of the samples, and genetic admixture. METHOD: We conducted tests of association in a sample of 838 adults participating in the National Youth Survey Family Study (NYSFS). We examined whether the DRD2 TaqIA polymorphism was associated with a symptom-count measure of alcohol abuse and dependence derived from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, and the Craving Withdrawal Model. RESULTS: Tests of association were nonsignificant across each classification system examined. Power calculations suggested that these results were despite the ability to detect an effect size of 1%. CONCLUSIONS: This study supports other family-based association tests that have reported no association between the DRD2 TaqIA polymorphism and alcohol abuse and dependence.

Childhood maltreatment, subsequent antisocial behavior, and the role of monoamine oxidase A genotype.

BACKGROUND: A functional promoter polymorphism in monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) has been implicated as a moderating factor in the relationship between childhood maltreatment and later adolescent and adult antisocial behavior. Despite wide interest in this hypothesis, results remain mixed from the few attempts at replication. METHODS: Regression-based analyses were conducted to test for a genotype-environment interaction using self-reported physical abuse and MAOA genotype to predict later antisocial behavior and arrests for violence by participants in the National Youth Survey Family Study. We also examined the interaction using a measure of violent victimization. The analysis sample included 277 Caucasian male respondents, aged 11-15 in 1976, who provided buccal swab DNA samples and who were successfully genotyped for the variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) in the MAOA promoter using polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: Maltreatment by a parent during adolescence was a risk factor for adolescent and adult antisocial and violence related behavioral problems. Tests for the main effect of MAOA and a MAOA-maltreatment interaction were nonsignificant. Similar results were obtained using the measure of adolescent violent victimization. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from this general population sample could not confirm the hypothesis that MAOA moderates the relationship between adolescent maltreatment and adolescent or adult antisocial behavior.