Contributions of the DAT1 and DRD2 genes to serious and violent delinquency among adolescents and young adults

Abstract

As far as we know, this is the first national study that reports compelling evidence for the main effects of genetic variants on serious and violent delinquency among adolescents and young adults. This study investigated the association between the self-reported serious and violent delinquency and the TaqI polymorphism in the DRD2 gene and the 40-bp VNTR in the DAT1 gene. The study was based on a cohort of more than 2,500 adolescents and young adults in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health in the United States. The trajectories of serious delinquency for the DAT1*10R/10R and DAT1*10R/9R genotypes are about twice as high as that for the DAT1*9R/9R genotype (LR test, P = 0.018, 2 df). For DRD2, the trajectory of serious delinquency for the heterozygotes (A1/A2) is about 20% higher than the A2/A2 genotype and about twice as high as the A1/A1 genotype, a phenomenon sometimes described as heterosis (LR test, P = 0.005, 2 df). The findings on violent delinquency closely resemble those on serious delinquency. The trajectories of violent delinquency for the DAT1*10R/9R and DAT1*10R/10R genotype are again about twice as high as that for DAT1*9R/9R (LR test, P = 0.021, 2 df). The two homozygotes of DRD2*A1/A1 and DRD2*A2/A2 scored lower (LR test, P = 0.0016, 2 df) than the heterozygotes. The findings in the models that consider DAT1 and DRD2 jointly (serious delinquency P = 0.0016, 4 df; violent delinquency P = 0.0006, 4 df) are essentially the same as those in the single-gene models, suggesting the absence of a significant correlation between the two genetic variants. These results only apply to males. Neither variant is associated with delinquency among females.

Estudo de revisão dos fatores biológicos, sociais e ambientais associados com o comportamento agressivo

“…[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] Of these, eight had adopted a prospective longitudinal study design, 12,14,15,18,19,[21][22][23] three were case-control studies 16,17,20 and one was a transversal study. Six studies related aggressive behavior to genic expression.…”

“…Six studies related aggressive behavior to genic expression. [12][13][14][15][16][17] Two demonstrated the genic expression of the serotonin transporter, 13,14 one demonstrated the genic expression of the monoaminaoxidase (MAOA), 12 another study demonstrated the genic expression of the transporter and the receptor of dopamine, 15 and two studies presented the genic expression of the catechol-O-methyltransferase enzyme (COMT). 16,17 Four studies related aggressive behavior to maternal exposure to psychoactive substances.…”

“…15 Based on a population sample of approximately 2,500 adolescents and young adults from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, the authors concluded that the presence of 10 repetitions of 40 pairs of nitrogenous bases at region 3' doubles the risk of adolescents and young adults (p = 0.018) of becoming involved in violent and delinquent acts, while heterozygosis of DRD2 increases the risk by 20%, and homozygosis doubles the risk of the variation studied (p = 0.005).…”

Multicenter Analysis of the SLC6A3/DAT1 VNTR Haplotype in Persistent ADHD Suggests Differential Involvement of the Gene in Childhood and Persistent ADHD

“…However, as this study is crosssectional we cannot exclude the possibility that individuals seeking treatment as children are different from those seeking treatment as adults. This might be suggested by findings of other phenotypes associated with DAT1, such as decreased delinquency and promiscuous behavior in teenagers with the 9/9 genotype of the 3 0 -UTR VNTR (Guo et al, 2007).…”

Epigenetic Changes Induced by Exercise

“…The increase in D2 receptors translates to enhanced DA function, which will ultimately promote greater confidence in the recovering addict, enabling a better understanding of the written word of the twelve-step fellowship. This will lead to an anti-stress effect and as such reduce the chance for relapse especially in dysfunctional and co-dependent families [25,32,42,156,169,258,272,274,[275][276][277][278].…”