Socioeconomic Status and Conduct Disorder: Evidence for a Moderating Effect on Genetic and Environmental Influences Open Access

Abstract

Previous research has consistently shown an association between lower socioeconomic status and increased rates of conduct disorder and antisocial behavior. However, little work has been done to assess the potential moderating effects of family and neighborhood socioeconomic on conduct disorder, rule-breaking, and aggression. This study aimed to examine those moderating effects, as well as determine the distinct pattern of association between socioeconomic status and conduct disorder and its two symptom dimensions. Our sample contained 728 twin pairs, ranging in age from 4 to 19 years drawn from the Georgia Twin Registry. Socioeconomic status data was gathered through self-report forms and US Census Tract data and conduct disorder was assessed using the Emory Combined Ratings Scales. We regressed conduct disorder and its symptom dimensions on our latent family SES variable, our latent neighborhood SES variable, in both a linear and curvilinear model. We found that our family SES variables explained a small portion of the variance in conduct disorder, rule-breaking, and aggression (R² = .02, p = .01, R² = .02 (.01), p = .06, and R² = .01 (.01), p = .01, respectively), but the latent family SES variable was not associated with conduct disorder (β = .004 (.03), p = .88, R² = .00).We further found that our latent neighborhood SES variable showed a small relationship with conduct disorder, rule-breaking, and aggression, but only explained a significant amount of the variance in conduct disorder (β=-.07 (.02), p = >.01, R² = .005, β = .06, p = .01, R² = .01, and β = .08, p = .001, R² = .01, respectively). In our behavior genetic analyses, we found evidence for additive genetic (a² = .86, .79, .77) and nonshared environmental influences (e² = .18, .13, .26) on conduct disorder, rule-breaking, and aggression respectively with significant rater contrast estimates. Finally, our moderator analyses showed that estimates of genetic and environmental influences varied across high and low SES groups, but there was no clear pattern of this moderating effect and all estimates had overlapping confidence intervals. 

Table of Contents

Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..1

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….2

Methods……….………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………………13

Results…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..……..18

Discussion……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..24

References……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…….32

Appendix 1 – Tables………………………………………………………………………………………………...………………42

Appendix 2 – Figures…………………………………………………………………………………………..………..………….50 

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology
Degree	B.S.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Biology, Neuroscience Psychology, Behavioral Sciences
Keyword	aggression socioeconomic status rule-breaking conduct disorder behavioral genetics
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Dr. Irwin Waldman, Emory University
Committee Members	Dr. Irene Browne, Emory University Dr. Melvin Konner, Emory University

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