Exposure to Violence as a Mediator of MAOA’s Effect on Behavior: A Biosocial Theory Perspective

Citation

Clady, Derrick L. (2016). Exposure to Violence as a Mediator of MAOA's Effect on Behavior: A Biosocial Theory Perspective.

Abstract

Data from crime reporting surveys such as the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) and National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) show a decrease in violent crime in the United States in recent years, yet aggressive and violent antisocial behavior (AVAB) seems to persist between some people solving disputes, though it does not always result in assault, battery, or homicide. However, in the cases that result in such violent behavior, social elements alone may not be the sole cause of aggressive escalation during an argument. Such behavior may have a genetic component that is not widely known. In many studies examining aggressive and violent antisocial behavior from a biosocial theoretical perspective, the findings have demonstrated how genetic and environmental risk factor interactions often produce aggressive and violent antisocial behavior. A quantitative research study was conducted to determine if exposure to violence can mediate monoamine oxidase -A’s (MAOA) effect on aggressive and violent antisocial behavior. The independent variable is MAOA as a genetic risk factor with aggressive, violent antisocial behavior being the dependent variable, and exposure to violence as a socioenvironmental mediating variable risk factor. A loglinear analysis was conducted using archival data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) study codebooks datasets. The codebooks contain the survey questions and response frequency data of from 75,290 responses from 15,701 respondents. The results of the analyses revealed that MAOA was moderately associated with exposure to violence and aggressive and violent antisocial behavior. Additional analyses revealed that exposure to violence interacts with MAOA and aggressive and violent antisocial behavior.

URL

http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:10149967&_ga=1.265357067.508686597.1467137551

Keyword(s)

Social sciences Biological sciences Psychology Add health Antisocial behavior Biosocial theory Exposure to violence Genetics MAOA Neurosciences Behavioral Sciences Criminology 0602:Behavioral Sciences 0627:Criminology 0317:Neurosciences

Notes

Copyright - Database copyright ProQuest LLC; ProQuest does not claim copyright in the individual underlying works. Last updated - 2016-11-22

Reference Type

Thesis/Dissertation

Author(s)

Clady, Derrick L.

Series Author(s)

Tippins, Steven Lamoureux Michelle

Year Published

2016

Pages

209

Publisher

Northcentral University

City of Publication

Ann Arbor

ISSN/ISBN

9781369050639

DOI

9781369050639

Reference ID

7816