Genetiska förutsättningar
för mobbning funna

Children who bully others are not necessarily badly brought up. It is all in the genes, according to a new study.

Whether children's behaviour is a result of their genes or their upbringing is a long-running nature/nurture debate. New research with twins suggests children may be genetically disposed towards bullying, whether or not their parents fight.

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Harden explains that if genes influence conduct disorders more than experiences do, one would expect the behaviour exhibited by the children of identical twins to be more similar than that of the children of fraternal twins.

This is, in fact, what the study found. The offspring of identical twins were much more likely to report having antisocial behaviour problems if their cousins also did – regardless of whether these children had witnessed parental conflict.

Harden says the findings show that genes might influence the development of antisocial behaviour more than parental conflicts do. "That's different from saying that conduct disorder is 100% caused by genes," she notes, adding that other factors have been linked to antisocial behaviour in children, such as low socioeconomic status.

The researchers say they do not know which genes might promote antisocial behaviour in children, if such genes exist. They suggest that such genes may be involved in regulating stress hormones, for example.

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Previous studies have linked an absence of the MAOA gene, which produces the enzyme monoamine oxidase-A Complete, to aggressive behaviour in men.

Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg of the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland, US, who has investigated the MAOA gene, says the new study does not completely refute the notion that parental conflicts can contribute to antisocial behaviour in children.

"What the study suggests is, rather, that genes are a major contributor to this linkage – between conflict in the marriage and child conduct – because of genes parents and children share," says Meyer-Lindenberg. ¹

Den politiska korrekheten hävdar att det är skolorna och det sociala skyddsnätet som misslyckats när bråkiga barn mobbar andra barn. Vetenskapen bevisar motsatsen: sådan far och mor, sådan son och dotter.