Delinquency, Androgens, and the Family

Abstract

There is little doubt that family factors can influence involvement in delinquency, although the full nature and extent of their influences remain unclear. In recent decades, testosterone has been increasingly implicated as a contributor to adolescent offending. The present study sought to determine whether two important types of familial factors—parental socioeconomic status and amicable parent–child relationships—are interacting with testosterone (and possibly other androgens) to affect delinquency. A large sample of North American college students self-reported their involvement in eight categories of delinquency along with self-ratings of various androgen-promoted traits (e.g., muscularity and low-deep voice), parental social status, and the quality of the relationships they had with parents. In both sexes, parent–child relationships and androgens were significantly associated with delinquency but parental social status was not. Factor analysis revealed that the authors’ measures of all four categories of variables exhibited strong loadings onto their respective factors. Androgens and amicable parent–child relationships were associated with delinquency but parental social status was not. About one third of the influence of parent–child relationships on delinquency appeared to be attributable to androgens. Findings are discussed from the perspective of the evolutionary neuroandrogenic theory of delinquent and criminal behavior.