Genetically influenced change in sensation seeking drives the rise of delinquent behavior during adolescence

Abstract

Sensation seeking is associated with an increased propensity for delinquency, and emerging research on personality change suggests that mean levels of sensation seeking increase substantially from childhood to adolescence. The current study tested whether individual differences in the rate of change of sensation seeking predicted within-person change in delinquent behavior and whether genetically influenced differences in rate of personality change accounted for this association. Sensation seeking and delinquent behavior were assessed biennially between ages 10-11 and 16-17 in a nationally representative sample of 7675 youths from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth: Children and Young Adults (CNLSY). Analyses using latent growth curve modeling found that within-person change in sensation seeking was significantly and positively correlated with within-person change in delinquency from childhood to adolescence. Furthermore, behavioral genetic analyses of a subset of 2562 sibling pairs indicated that there were substantial genetic influences on both initial levels of sensation seeking and change in sensation seeking during early adolescence, with over 80% of individual differences in change due to genetic factors. Finally, these genetically driven increases in sensation seeking were most important for predicting increases in delinquency, whereas environmental paths between sensation seeking and delinquency were not significant. These results suggest that developmental changes in delinquent behaviors during adolescence are driven by a genetically governed process of personality change.

Figure 1

Mean Levels of Sensation Seeking and Delinquent Behavior by Age. Note. Bands represent SEs. Sensation seeking on standardized (z-score) scale. Delinquency measured as symptom count (0–7).

Figure 2

Latent Growth Curve Model of Delinquency and Sensation Seeking, with Standardized Parameter Estimates. Note. Intercept factor loadings fixed to 1.0 across all ages; slope factor loadings fixed to 1 at age 12–13 and estimated freely from data for subsequent ages. SEs are in parentheses. Analysis controlled for youth gender and race/ethnicity (not shown). Parameters with * are significant at P < .05.

Figure 3

Cross-Lagged Analysis of Delinquency and Sensation Seeking, with Standardized Parameter Estimates. Note. Parameters with * are significant at P < .05. Analysis controlled for youth gender and race/ethnicity (not shown).

Figure 4

Behavioral Genetic Model of Change in Sensation Seeking. Note. Only one sibling per pair is shown. A=Additive Genetic, C=Shared Environmental, E=Non-shared Environmental. Correlations between A components fixed to .5 in full siblings, .375 in ambiguous siblings, and .25 in half siblings; correlations between C components fixed to 1.0 in all sibling pair types. Analysis controlled for youth gender and race/ethnicity (not shown).

Figure 5

Full Behavioral Genetic Model of Change in Sensation Seeking and Change in Delinquency. Note. Only one sibling per pair is shown. A=Additive Genetic, C=Shared Environmental, E=Non-shared Environmental. Correlations between A components fixed to .5 in full siblings, .375 in ambiguous siblings, and .25 in half siblings; correlations between C components fixed to 1.0 in all sibling pair types. Analysis controlled for youth gender and race/ethnicity (not shown).

Figure 6

Final Trimmed Behavioral Genetic Model of Change in Sensation Seeking and Change in Delinquency, with Standardized Parameter Estimates. Note. Only one sibling per pair is shown. A=Additive Genetic, C=Shared Environmental, E=Non-shared Environmental. Correlations between A components fixed to .5 in full siblings, .375 in ambiguous siblings, and .25 in half siblings; correlations between C components fixed to 1.0 in all sibling pair types. Analysis controlled for youth gender and race/ethnicity (not shown).