Does Marriage Inhibit Antisocial Behavior?

Abstract

Context Prior studies have indicated that marriage is negatively associated with male antisocial behavior. Although often interpreted as a causal association, marriage is not a random event. As such, the association may stem from selection processes, whereby men less inclined towards antisocial behavior are more likely to marry. Objective To evaluate selection versus causation explanations of the association between marriage and desistence from antisocial behavior. Design Co-twin control analyses in a prospective twin study provided an analog of the idealized counterfactual model of causation. The co-twin control design uses the unmarried co-twin of a married twin to estimate what the married twin would have looked like had he remained unmarried. Discordant monozygotic (MZ) twins are particularly informative as they share a common genotype and rearing environment. Setting General community Participants 289 male-male twin pairs (65% MZ) from the Minnesota Twin Family Study assessed at ages 17, 20, 24, and 29 years. None of the participants were married at age 17, and 2.6% were married at age 20. By age 29, 58.8% of the participants were or had been married. Interventions None Main Outcome Measure A tally of Criterion C symptoms of DSM-III-R Antisocial Personality Disorder, as assessed via structured clinical interview. Results Mean differences in antisocial behavior across marital status were present even at ages 17 and 20, suggesting a selection process. However, the within-pair effect of marriage was significant for MZ twins, such that the married twin engaged in less antisocial behavior than his unmarried co-twin. Results were equivalent to those in dizygotic twins and persisted when controlling for prior antisocial behavior. Conclusions Results indicate an initial selection effect, whereby men with lower levels of antisocial behavior are more likely to marry. However, this tendency to refrain from antisocial behavior appears to be accentuated by the state of marriage.

Effect of Marriage on Risk for Onset of Alcohol Use Disorder: A Longitudinal and Co-Relative Analysis in a Swedish National Sample

“…We considered three: socioeconomic status, early criminal behavior or drug abuse, and a family history of alcohol use disorder. There is evidence in some studies that antisocial individuals are less likely to be or become married (19, 36, 37); however, other studies have found no association between some forms of antisocial behavior and marital status (38) and an increased likelihood of early marriage among those with antisocial personality disorder (39). When good measures of these three constructs were added to the statistical model, no attenuation was seen in the relationship between marital status and alcohol use disorder.…”

Socialization and selection effects in the association between weight conscious peer groups and thin-ideal internalization: A co-twin control study

“…The co-twin control analyses used regression-based models within a multilevel model (MLM) framework (Burt et al, 2010; McGue et al, 2010). MLM accounts for the non-independence of the twin data within a pair by nesting a level-1 variable (individual twin) within a level-2 variable (the twin pair).…”

“…Fortunately, there are methods to examine the role of socialization and selection effects indirectly using cross sectional data; most notably, the co-twin control design (McGue, Osler, & Christensen, 2010). Co-twin control studies compare outcomes in reared-together co-twins discordant on level of exposure to an environmental risk factor (Burt et al, 2010; McGue et al, 2010; Rubin, 2007). In order to infer the role of selection and/or socialization effects, the co-twin control model capitalizes on the common environmental and genetic background within twin pairs.…”

Does education lower allostatic load? A co-twin control study

“…This analysis yields the individual-level effect of exposure (i.e., education) on outcome (i.e., allostatic load), without controlling for genetic or other familial confounding. Next, we applied a co-twin control (CTC) design that has been previously employed to strengthen causal inference in observational twin research (e.g., Burt et al, 2010; Huibregtse et al, 2011; Irons et al, 2015; McGue et al, 2010). This design investigates if differences in education within twin pairs predict allostatic load.…”