The possibility that genetic factors are among the causes of criminal behavior was tested by comparing court convictions of 14,427 adoptees with those of their biological and adoptive parents. A statistically significant correlation was found between the adoptees and their biological parents for convictions of property crimes. This was not true with respect to violent crimes. There was no statistically significant correlation between adoptee and adoptive parent court convictions. Siblings adopted separately into different homes tended to be concordant for convictions, especially if the shared biological father also had a record of criminal behavior.

A number of studies have found a negative relationship between IQ and delinquent involvement. Some researchers maintain that IQ is a spurious variable in the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and delinquency, whereas others assert that IQ bears a causal relationship to delinquency that is independent of the effects of SES. Results from two Danish prospective longitudinal studies are presented that support the latter view, In each study a significant negative correlation between IQ and level of delinquent involvement remained after SES effects were partialled out. It is posited that low IQ children may be likely to engage in delinquent behavior because their poor verbal abilities limit their opportunities to obtain rewards in the school environment.

Operando EPR under elevated ethylene pressure supported by in situ XAS was for the first time applied to discriminate between active and deactivating Cr species in ethylene tetramerization. Starting from Cr(III) in the Cr(acac)3 precursor, a (PNP)Cr(II)(CH3)2 complex is most likely formed upon adding PNP and MMAO, which is regarded as the active species that converts ethylene to 1-octene by passing a reversible redox cycle, while reduction to Cr(I) leads to deactivation.

Lower EEG response to a small dose of alcohol may be associated with the later development of alcohol dependence. This result is based on a small number of subjects and should be interpreted with caution. Although this result is opposite to our 1980 hypothesis, it is consistent with much of the recent literature.

The present study tested the hypothesis that 12-yr-old sons of alcoholic fathers will evidence an excess of fast EEG activity. Such sons have been shown to be at high risk for alcoholism. In this study, EEGs were recorded on a sample of 265 subjects who had been selected to maximize risk for deviant behavior (children of schizophrenics and children of psychopathic or character disordered parents) or selected as controls (children of normal parents). The sample included 27 children of alcoholic fathers and 258 children of nonalcoholic parents. The hypothesis was confirmed, suggesting that the biological risk for alcoholism in sons of alcoholics may relate to biological factors predisposing to alcoholism.