Abstract
This paper follows earlier research (Rowe et al., 1992) in evaluating the basis of family influences on adolescent delinquent behavior. Delinquency is measured in a number of different ways to account for important theoretical distinctions that exist in the delinquency literature. We use recently identified kinship structure in a large national data set—the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth—to estimate genetic and shared environmental influences on self-reported delinquency scores. Our analytic model is based on DF analysis, a regression procedure used to estimate parameters reflecting genetic and environmental influence. Results suggest a consistent and moderate genetic basis to sibling similarity in delinquency and little evidence of a shared environmental basis. A large amount of variance is attributable to nonshared influences and/or measurement error. Our findings suggest that the search for environmental influences on adolescent delinquency should focus on those that are not shared by siblings.
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Rodgers, J.L., Buster, M. & Rowe, D.C. Genetic and Environmental Influences on Delinquency: DF Analysis of NLSY Kinship Data. Journal of Quantitative Criminology 17, 145–168 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011097929954
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011097929954