Citation

Kretschmer T, Vitaro F, Barker ED. J. Res. Adolesc. 2014; 24(1): 177-185.

Affiliation

Birkbeck, University of London, UK, Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, WC1E 7HX, United Kingdom.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/jora.12050

PMID

25061266

PMCID

PMC4104608

Abstract

Peer antisocial behavior robustly predicts adolescents' own behavior but not all adolescents are equally vulnerable to their peers' influence and genetic factors may confer vulnerability. This study used data of n = 3081 adolescents from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) to examine whether BDNF, a polymorphism that affects psychological functioning, moderates the association between affiliation with aggressive peers at age 10 and own aggression at age 15. A significant gene-environment interaction was found, where those who affiliated with aggressive peers in childhood showed increased risk for being aggressive in adolescence if they carried the BDNF met-met variant compared to val-val carriers. Our findings underline the importance of both biological and social factors for adolescent development.

Language: en