Research on Antisocial Behavior

Research Focus

Antisocial behavior in adulthood is usually preceded by antisocial behavior in childhood. Antisocial behavior in adolescence may or may not have been preceded by antisocial behavior in childhood, and it may or may not continue into adulthood. Indeed, there is a robust link between onset of antisocial behavior and its subsequent course (e.g., severity, persistence). So why does one person exhibit antisocial behavior at an early age while others show behavior problems only during adolescence? What types of factors influence the onset and course of antisocial behavior? Understanding the relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors to individual differences in antisocial behavior has been the main focus of Dr. Taylor’s line of research on antisocial behavior. Our lab’s current study on substance abuse is aimed at understanding the extent to which physiological and cognitive risk factors are associated with not only substance abuse but with problems associated with substance abuse, such as antisocial personality disorder.

Our research on antisocial behavior is guided by the notion that antisocial behavior arises from both genetic and environmental sources of variation. Dr. Taylor’s work suggests that genetic factors account for around 30% of the variance in adolescent delinquency. Much of the remaining variance in adolescent delinquency is associated with non-shared environmental factors – those factors that make family members different from each other. Dr. Taylor’s work also suggests that there is a greater genetic influence on antisocial behavior that begins early (before age 12) than on antisocial behavior that begins in adolescence.

Current Research

Dr. Taylor's current research on antisocial behavior is conducted using two archival data sets. One is the Minnesota Twin Family Study (MTFS; PIs: William G. Iacono and Matt McGue), an ongoing longitudinal study of substance use and related behaviors in twins and their parents. For more information on the MTFS, click here to visit their website. The other is from the Dozier school, a high risk residential training facility for adolescent boys adjudicated on one or more felony offenses in Florida.

Publications

Taylor, J., & Iacono, W. G. (in press). Personality trait differences in boys and girls with clinical or sub-clinical conduct disorder versus antisocial personality disorder. Journal of Adolescence.

Taylor, J., Kemper, T., Loney, B. L., & Kistner, J. (2006). Classification of severe male juvenile offenders using the MACI clinical and personality scales. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 35, 90-102.

Taylor, J., Kemper, T. S., & Kistner, J. A. (in press). Predicting institutional maladjustment among severe male juvenile delinquents from criminal history and personality/clinical subtype. Criminal Justice and Behavior.

Loney, B. R., Taylor, J., Butler, M. A., & Iacono, W. G. (in press). Adolescent psychopathy features: 6-Year temporal stability and the prediction of externalizing symptoms during the transition to adulthood. Aggressive Behavior.

Taylor, J., & Lang, A. R. (2005). Psychopathy and substance use disorders. In C. J. Patrick
(Ed.), Handbook of psychopathy. New York: Guilford Publications Inc.

Taylor, J., Loney, B. R., Bobadilla, L., Iacono, W. G., & McGue, M. (2003). Genetic and environmental influence on psychopathy: Findings from an adolescent male twin cohort. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 31, 633-645.

Taylor, J., Malone, S., Iacono, W. G., & McGue, M. (2002). Development of substance dependence in two delinquency subgroups and non-delinquents from a male twin sample. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 41, 386-393.

Taylor, J., Iacono, W. G., & McGue, M. (2000). Evidence for a genetic etiology of early-onset delinquency. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 109, 634-643.

Taylor, J., McGue, M., Iacono, W. G., & Lykken, D. T. (2000). A behavioral genetic analysis of the relationship between the Socialization scale and self-reported delinquency. Journal of Personality, 68, 29-50.

Taylor, J., McGue, M., & Iacono, W. G. (2000). Sex differences, assortative mating, and cultural transmission effects on adolescent delinquency: A twin family study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 41, 433-440.

Taylor, J. & Carey, G. (1998). Antisocial behavior, substance abuse, and somatization in families of adolescent drug abusers and adolescent controls. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 24, 635-646.