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Contributions of the DAT1 and DRD2 genes to serious and violent delinquency among adolescents and young adults

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Abstract

As far as we know, this is the first national study that reports compelling evidence for the main effects of genetic variants on serious and violent delinquency among adolescents and young adults. This study investigated the association between the self-reported serious and violent delinquency and the TaqI polymorphism in the DRD2 gene and the 40-bp VNTR in the DAT1 gene. The study was based on a cohort of more than 2,500 adolescents and young adults in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health in the United States. The trajectories of serious delinquency for the DAT1*10R/10R and DAT1*10R/9R genotypes are about twice as high as that for the DAT1*9R/9R genotype (LR test, P = 0.018, 2 df). For DRD2, the trajectory of serious delinquency for the heterozygotes (A1/A2) is about 20% higher than the A2/A2 genotype and about twice as high as the A1/A1 genotype, a phenomenon sometimes described as heterosis (LR test, P = 0.005, 2 df). The findings on violent delinquency closely resemble those on serious delinquency. The trajectories of violent delinquency for the DAT1*10R/9R and DAT1*10R/10R genotype are again about twice as high as that for DAT1*9R/9R (LR test, P = 0.021, 2 df). The two homozygotes of DRD2*A1/A1 and DRD2*A2/A2 scored lower (LR test, P = 0.0016, 2 df) than the heterozygotes. The findings in the models that consider DAT1 and DRD2 jointly (serious delinquency P = 0.0016, 4 df; violent delinquency P = 0.0006, 4 df) are essentially the same as those in the single-gene models, suggesting the absence of a significant correlation between the two genetic variants. These results only apply to males. Neither variant is associated with delinquency among females.

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Notes

  1. For this question, the score value on the scale is determined in the following manner: The score is coded as zero if the event did not occur in the past 12 months; the score is coded as one if the event occurred once or twice in the past 12 months; the score is coded as two if the event occurred three or four times in the past 12 months; the score is coded as three if the event occurred five or more times in the past 12 months.

  2. For this question, the score value on the scale is determined in the following manner: the score is coded as zero if the event did not occur in the past 12 months; the score is coded as three if the event did occur once or more during the past 12 months.

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Acknowledgments

This research uses data from Add Health, a program project designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris, and funded by a grant P01-HD31921 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 17 other agencies (www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth/contract.html). Special acknowledgment is due to Andrew Smolen and John K. Hewitt of the Institute for Behavior Genetics, University of Colorado for DNA isolation and genotyping. We gratefully acknowledge supports from NIH, P01-HD31921 to Add Health; R03 HD042490-02 to Guang Guo; from NSF, SES -0210389 to Guang Guo.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CB#3210, Department of Sociology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-3210, USA

    Guang Guo & Michael E. Roettger

  2. Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Toxicology, School of Pharmacy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA

    Jean C. Shih

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  1. Guang Guo
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  2. Michael E. Roettger
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  3. Jean C. Shih
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Correspondence to Guang Guo.

Appendix: The serious delinquency scale and the violent delinquency scale ,

In the construction of the serious delinquency scale, individuals with more than two missing responses were excluded from analysis. In the construction of the violent delinquency scale, individuals with more than one missing response were excluded from analysis.

The violent scale is based upon 8 of the 12 items and they are items 1–6, 11, and 12.

Appendix: The serious delinquency scale and the violent delinquency scale ,

  1. 1.

    In the past 12 months, how often did you hurt someone badly enough to need bandages or care from a doctor or nurse?Footnote 3

  2. 2.

    In the past 12 months, how often did someone hurt you badly enough to need bandages or care from a doctor or nurse?1

  3. 3.

    In the past 12 months, how often did you use or threaten to use a weapon to get something from someone?1

  4. 4.

    In the past 12 months, how often did you take part in a fight where a group of your friends was against another group?1

  5. 5.

    In the last 12 months, how often did you deliberately damage property that didn’t belong to you?1

  6. 6.

    In the past 12 months how often did you carry a handgun to school or work?1

  7. 7.

    In the past 12 months, how often did you steal something worth more than $50?1

  8. 8.

    In the past 12 months, how often did you steal something worth less than $50?1

  9. 9.

    In the past 12 months, how often did you go into a house or building to steal something?1

  10. 10.

    In the past 12 months, how often did you sell marijuana or other drugs?1

  11. 11.

    In the past 12 months, have you shot or stabbed someone?Footnote 4

  12. 12.

    In the past 12 months, have you pulled a knife or gun on someone?2

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Guo, G., Roettger, M.E. & Shih, J.C. Contributions of the DAT1 and DRD2 genes to serious and violent delinquency among adolescents and young adults. Hum Genet 121, 125–136 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00439-006-0244-8

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