Abstract
The goal of this chapter is to demonstrate the importance of incorporating gene by environment (G × E) interactions into criminological research. In pursuit of this aim, the chapter is organized in the following way. We begin by providing a brief primer on genetic variation. We then turn our focus to the explosion of G × E research that has occurred in the past decade. These studies find that genetic variation often interacts with environmental context to influence the probability of various behaviors, including delinquency and crime. Importantly, in many, and perhaps most, of these studies the genetic variable, unlike the environmental variable, has little if any main effect on the outcome of interest. Rather, the influence of the genetic variable is limited to its moderation of the effect of the environmental construct. Such research does not undermine the importance of environmental factors; rather it shows how social scientific explanations of human behavior might be made more precise by incorporating genetic information. Finally, we consider various models of gene–environment interplay, paying particular attention to the differential susceptibility to context perspective. This model of G × E posits that a substantial proportion of the population is genetically predisposed to be more susceptible than others to environment influence. We discuss the methodological and theoretical implications of this perspective and argue that it is particularly relevant to the field of criminology.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Agnew, R. (2006). Pressured into crime: An overview of general strain theory. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Anderson, E. (1999). Code of the street: Decency, violence, and the moral life of the inner city. New York: Norton.
Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., Van IJzendoorn, M. H., Pijlman, F. T. A., Mesman, J., & Juffer, F. (2008). Experimental evidence for differential susceptibility: Dopamine D4 receptor polymorphism (DRD4 VNTR) moderates intervention effects on toddlers’ externalizing behavior in a randomized controlled trial. Developmental Psychology, 44, 293–300.
Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., & Van Ijzendoorn, M. H. (2011). Differential susceptibility to rearing environment depending on dopamine-related genes: New evidence and a meta-analysis. Development and Psychopathology, 23, 39–52.
Beach, S. R. H., Brody, G. H., Lei, M.-K., & Philibert, R. A. (2010). Differential susceptibility to parenting among African American youths: Testing the DRD4 hypothesis. Journal of Family Psychology, 24, 513–521.
Beaver, K. M., Wright, J. P., DeLisi, M., Daigle, L. E., Swatt, M. L., & Gibson, C. L. (2007). Evidence of a gene x environment interaction in the creation of victimization: Results from a longitudinal sample of adolescents. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 51, 620–645.
Beaver, K. M., Wright, J. P., DeLisi, M., & Vaughn, M. G. (2008). Desistance from delinquency: The marriage effect revisited and extended. Social Science Research, 37, 736–752.
Belsky, J., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., & van Ijzendoorn, M. H. (2007). For better and for worse: Differential susceptibility to environmental influences. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16, 300–304.
Belsky, J., & Beaver, K. M. (2010). Cumulative-genetic plasticity, parenting and adolescent self-regulation. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 52, 619–626.
Belsky, J., & Pluess, M. (2009). Beyond diathesis-stress: Differential susceptibility to environmental influences. Psychological Bulletin, 135, 885–908.
Brody, G. H., Beach, S. R. H., Philibert, R. A., Chen, Y.-F., Lei, M.-K., Murry, V. M., et al. (2009). Parenting moderates a genetic vulnerability factors in longitudinal increases in youths’ substance use. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77, 1–11.
Carver, C., Sheri, D., Johnson, L., & Joormann, J. (2008). Serotonergic function, two-mode models of self-regulation, and vulnerability to depression: What depression has in common with impulsive aggression. Psychological Bulletin, 134, 912–943.
Caspi, A., McCLay, J., Moffitt, T. E., Mill, J., Martin, J., Craig, I. W., et al. (2002). Role of genotype in the cycle of violence in baltreated children. Science, 297, 851–853.
Caspi, A., & Moffitt, T. (2006). Gene–environment interactions in psychiatry. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 7, 583–590.
Dick, D. M. (2011). Gene-environment interaction in psychological traits and disorders. Annual Reviews of Clinical Psychology, 7, 383–409.
Edenberg, H. J., Dick, D. M., Xuei, X., Tian, H., Almasy, L., Bauer, L. O., et al. (2004). Variations in GABRA2, encoding the alpha 2 subunit of the GABA(A) receptor, are associated with alcohol dependence and with brain oscillations. American Journal of Human Genetics, 74, 705–714.
Ellis, B. J., Boyce, W. T., Belsky, J., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., & Van Ijzendoorn, M. H. (2011). Differential susceptibility to the environment: An evolutionary-neurodevelopmental theory. Development and Psychopathology, 23, 8–28.
Frank, M. J., D’Lauro, C., & Curran, T. (2007). Cross-task individual differences in error processing: Neural, electrophysiological, and genetic components. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 7, 297–308.
Freese, J. (2008). Genetics and the social science explanation of outcomes. The American Journal of Sociology, 114(Suppl), S1–S35.
Gibbons, F. X., Roberts, M. E., Gerrard, M., Li, Z., Beach, S. R. H., Simons, R. L., et al. (2012). The impact of stress on the life history strategies of African American adolescents: Cognitions, genetic moderation, and the role of discrimination. Developmental Psychology, 48(3), 722–739. doi:10.1037/a0026599.
Guo, G., Roettger, M. E., & Cai, T. (2008). The integration of genetic propensities into social-control models of delinquency and violence among male youths. American Sociological Review, 73, 543–568.
Homberg, J. R., & Lesch, K. P. (2011). Looking on the bright side of serotonin transporter gene variation. Biological Psychiatry, 69, 513–519.
Kim-Cohen, J., Caspi, A., Taylor, A., Williams, B., Newcombe, R., Craig, I. W., et al. (2006). MAOA, maltreatment, and gene environment interaction predicting children’s mental health: New evidence and a meta-analysis. Molecular Psychiatry, 11, 903–913.
Knafo, A., Israel, A., & Ebstein, R. P. (2011). Heritability of children’s prosocial behavior and differential susceptibility to parenting by variation in the dopamine receptor D4 gene. Development and Psychopathology, 23, 53–67.
Laub, J., & Sampson, R. J. (2003). Shared beginnings, divergent lives: Delinquent boys to age 70. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.
Luthar, S. S. (2006). Resilience in development: A synthesis of research across five decades. In D. Cicchetti & D. J. Cohen (Eds.), Developmental psychopathology: Vol. 3. Theory and method (2nd ed., pp. 739–795). New York: Wiley.
Masten, A. S., & Obradovic, J. (2006). Competence and resilience in development. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1094, 13–27.
Moffitt, T. E., Caspi, A., & Rutter, M. (2006). Measured gene-environment interactions in psychopathology: Concepts, research strategies, and implications for research, intervention, and public understanding of genetics. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1, 5–27.
Reid, J. B., Patterson, G. R., & Snyder, J. (2002). Antisocial behavior in children and adolescents: A developmental analysis and model for intervention. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Rutter, M., Moffitt, T. E., & Caspi, A. (2006). Gene-environment interplay and psychopathology: Multiple varieties but real effects. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47, 226–251.
Sampson, R. J., Morenoff, J. D., & Gannon-Rowley, T. (2002). Assessing neighborhood effects: Social processes and new directions in research. Annual Review of Sociology, 28, 443–478.
Savolainen, J. (2009). Work, family and criminal desistance. British Journal of Criminology, 49, 285–304.
Shanahan, M. J., & Hofer, S. M. (2005). Social context in gene-environment interactions: Retrospect and prospect. Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 60, 65–76.
Shanahan, M. J., & Hofer, S. M. (2011). Molecular genetics, aging, and well-being: Sensitive period, accumulation, and pathway models. In R. H. Binstock & L. K. George (Eds.), Handbook of aging and the social sciences (pp. 135–148). New York: Elsevier.
Shanahan, M. J., Vaisey, S., Erickson, L. D., & Smolen, A. (2008). Environmental contingencies and genetic propensities: Social capital, educational continuation, and dopamine receptor gene DRD2. The American Journal of Sociology, 114, S260–S286.
Simons, R. L., Chen, Y.-F., Stewart, E. A., & Brody, G. H. (2003). Incidents of discrimination and risk for delinquency: A longitudinal test of strain theory with as African American sample. Justice Quarterly, 20, 827–854.
Simons, R. L., Lei, M.-K., Brody, G. H., Beach, S. R. H., Philibert, R. A., & Gibbons, F. X. (2011). Social environmental variation, plasticity genes, and aggression: Evidence for the differential susceptibility hypothesis. American Sociological Review, 76, 883–912.
Simons, R. L., Lei, M. K., Beach, S. R. H., Brody, G. H., Philibert, R. A., Gibbons, F. X. (in press). Differential sensitivity to context: GABRG1 enhances the acquisition of prototypes that serve as intermediate phenotypes for substance use. In J. MacKillop & M. Munafo (Eds.), Genetic influences on addiction: an intermediate phenotype approach. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Simons, R. L., Lei, M.-K., Stewart, E. A., Brody, G. H., Beach, S. R. H., Philibert, R. A., et al. (2012). Social adversity, genetic variation, street code, and aggression: A genetically informed model of violent behavior. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 10, 3–24.
Warr, M. (2002). Companions in crime: The social aspects of criminal conduct. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Acknowledgement
This research was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (MH48165, MH62669), the Center for Disease Control (029136-02), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA021898, 1P30DA027827), the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (2R01AA012768, 3R01AA012768-09S1), and the Center for Contextual Genetics and Prevention Science and the Center for Gene-Social Environment Transaction at the University of Georgia.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
About the Authors
About the Authors
Ronald L. Simons is Distinguished Research Professor of Sociology and Fellow in the Institute for Behavioral Research at the University of Georgia. His research focuses on the ways in which community factors, family processes, peer affiliations, and, most recently, genotype combine to influence deviant behavior and emotional problems across the life course. His work appears in journals such as Criminology, American Sociological Review, and Developmental Psychology.
Man Kit Lei is a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology and data analyst in the Center for Family Research at the University of Georgia. His research focuses on the mechanisms whereby family and community factors influence criminal and antisocial behavior. His work has appeared in journals such as the American Sociological Review, Journal of Counseling and Consulting Psychology, and Journal of Family Psychology.
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Simons, R.L., Lei, M.K. (2013). Enhanced Susceptibility to Context: A Promising Perspective on the Interplay of Genes and the Social Environment. In: Gibson, C., Krohn, M. (eds) Handbook of Life-Course Criminology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5113-6_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5113-6_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5112-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-5113-6
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)