Heredity and Sociological Theories of Delinquency: A Reconsideration

Abstract

In most sociological treatments of crime and delinquency, genetic explanations are either ignored or ridiculed. While the belief that single genetic defects produce delinquent behavior is untenable, modern genetic theory is concerned with the influence of many genes on normal human behavioral variation. This analysis of genetic variation can be united with sociological theory. In particular, a twin study of the covariation between delinquent behavior and association with delinquent peers is used to demonstrate the value of a behavioral genetic analysis for developing social theory. The phenotypic correlation between self-reported and the of friends is apportioned to three theoretical sources: genetic variation; common environmental influences that affect family members equally; and specific environmental influences that affect each individual uniquely. Of the three component sources, genetic factors contributed most to the phenotypic covariation in this study. Although genetic factors are implicated, this result does not mean that delinquency is either a direct result of biological differences or that it is inevitable. Rather, it shows that causal sequences leading to delinquency are traceable to individual differences in genes, so any social causation entails either individual differences in reactions to social processes or differential social reactions to already differing individuals. Implications of behavioral genetic analyses of covariation for theories of delinquency are discussed.