Genetic Risk for Violent Behavior and Environmental Exposure to Disadvantage and Violent Crime

Abstract

Despite mounds of evidence to suggest that neighborhood structural factors predict violent behavior, almost no attention has been given to how these influences work synergistically (i.e., interact) with an individual’s genetic propensity toward violent behavior. Indeed, two streams of research have, heretofore, flowed independently of one another. On one hand, criminologists have underscored the importance of neighborhood context in the etiology of violence. On the other hand, behavioral geneticists have argued that individual-level genetic propensities are important for understanding violence. The current study seeks to integrate these two compatible frameworks by exploring gene–environment interactions (GxE). Two GxEs were examined and supported by the data (i.e., the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health). Using a scale of genetic risk based on three dopamine genes, the analysis revealed that genetic risk had a greater influence on violent behavior when the individual was also exposed to neighborhood disadvantage or when the individual was exposed to higher violent crime rates. The relevance of these findings for criminological theorizing was considered.