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Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School
2014
Examining Gene-Environment
Interactions Between Antisocial Behavior,
Neighborhood Disadvantage, and Collective
Efficacy
Eric J. Connolly
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FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE

EXAMINING GENE-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTIONS BETWEEN ANTISOCIAL
BEHAVIOR, NEIGHBORHOOD DISADVANTAGE, AND COLLECTIVE EFFICACY

By

ERIC J. CONNOLLY

A Dissertation submitted to the
College of Criminology and Criminal Justice
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Awarded:
Fall Semester, 2014
Eric Connolly defended this dissertation on December 2, 2014.
The members of the supervisory committee were:

Kevin M. Beaver
Professor Directing Dissertation

Janet Kistner
University Representative

Marc G. Gertz
Committee Member

Patricia Y. Warren
Committee Member

The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and
certifies that the dissertation has been approved in accordance with university requirements.

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I dedicate this dissertation to the love of my life and center of my universe, Kayla Danielle
Isbell. Without you, none of this would be worthwhile.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
There are several people I wish to acknowledge. First and foremost, I wish to
acknowledge my major professor and mentor, Dr. Kevin M. Beaver. Without Dr. Beaver’s
guidance and encouragement, I know I would not be the individual and scholar I am today. For
the past four years, Dr. Beaver has consistently demonstrated what it means to be a scientist,
educator, mentor, and perhaps most importantly, a considerate human being. Expectedly, words
cannot begin to describe the amount of time and energy Dr. Beaver spent helping me develop
strong analytic and scholarly writing skills. It has been Dr. Beaver’s sacrifice of time, perhaps
the most valuable resource in life that we never retrieve once lost, that I am most grateful for.
Working with and learning from an eminent scholar such as Dr. Beaver has been beyond a gift
and privilege. I am forever grateful to Dr. Beaver for teaching me to question assumed truths and
always strive to answer empirical questions the best way possible.
I would also like to acknowledge members of my dissertation committee. Dr. Marc Gertz,
Dr. Janet Kistner, and Dr. Patricia Warren have offered valuable insight on earlier drafts of the
present paper and have been exemplary scholars. I am grateful for all of their comments,
suggestions, and recommendations that have improved the paper immensely. Furthermore, I
would like to acknowledge two doctoral students: Joseph L. Nedelec and Joseph A. Schwartz.
Both provided me with friendship and instrumental support throughout graduate school and are
gentlemen as well as fine scholars. Finally, I would like to acknowledge my family and girlfriend
for their continued love and support throughout this process. I am overwhelmingly grateful for
their constant encouragement over the past four years.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... viii
List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ ix
Abstract ............................................................................................................................................x
1. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM .......................................................................................1
1.1 Neighborhood-Level Influences on Antisocial Behavior ..............................................3
1.2 Research Questions ........................................................................................................7
1.3 Contributions of the Present Study ..............................................................................10
1.4 Outline..........................................................................................................................12

2. NEIGHBORHOOD DISADVANTAGE AND COLLECTIVE EFFICACY THEORY .....16
2.1 Neighborhood Disadvantage ........................................................................................18
2.1.1 Social Science Findings on Neighborhood Disadvantage and Youth Antisocial
Behavior .......................................................................................................................19
2.2 Collective Efficacy Theory ..........................................................................................24
2.2.1 Social Science Findings on Collective Efficacy and Youth Antisocial
Behavior ......................................................................................................................25

3. THE BIOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE ......................................................................................30
3.1 Behavioral Genetic Research Methods ........................................................................32
3.1.1 Estimating Genetic and Environmental Effects ..................................................36
3.1.2 Twin Studies .......................................................................................................37
3.1.3 External Validity of Twin Studies ......................................................................43
3.1.4 Overview of Twin Studies ..................................................................................44
3.1.5 Family Studies ....................................................................................................45
3.1.6 Overview of Behavioral Genetic Research Methods ..........................................46
3.2 Gene-Environment Interplay .......................................................................................47
3.2.1 Gene x Environment Interaction (G x E) ............................................................48
3.2.2 Diathesis Stress G x E Process............................................................................49
3.2.3 Differential Susceptibility G x E Process ...........................................................50
3.2.4 Compensation G x E Process ..............................................................................50
3.2.5 Suppression G x E Process .................................................................................51
3.2.6 Enhancement G x E Process ...............................................................................51
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3.2.7 Gene-Environment Correlation (rGE) ................................................................52
3.2.8 Passive rGE .........................................................................................................53
3.2.9 Evocative rGE .....................................................................................................53
3.2.10 Active rGE ........................................................................................................54
3.2.11 Overview of Gene-Environment Interplay ......................................................55

4. INTEGRATING NEIGHBORHOOD DISADVANTAGE AND COLLECTIVE
EFFICACY WITH THE BIOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE ......................................................57
5. METHODS ...........................................................................................................................63
5.1 Data ..................................................................................................................................64
5.1.1 CNLSY Kinship Links ........................................................................................66
5.1.2 Analytic Sample ..................................................................................................68
5.2 Measures ..........................................................................................................................70
5.2.1 Childhood Antisocial Behavior ...........................................................................70
5.2.2 Adolescent Delinquency ......................................................................................71
5.2.3 Neighborhood Disadvantage ...............................................................................72
5.2.4 Collective Efficacy ..............................................................................................73
5.2.5 Covariates ............................................................................................................73
5.3 Analytic Plan ...................................................................................................................76
5.3.1 Research Question 1 ............................................................................................76
5.3.2 Cross-Sibling Correlations ..................................................................................77
5.3.3 ACE Biometric Model .........................................................................................77
5.3.4 Research Question 2 ............................................................................................81
5.3.5 ACE Biometric Model with Environmental Variable Interactions .....................83
5.3.6 Research Question 3 ............................................................................................86
6. RESULTS ..............................................................................................................................89
6.1 Research Question 1 ........................................................................................................89
6.1.1 Cross-Sibling Correlations ..................................................................................90
6.1.2 Univariate ACE Biometric Model Results ..........................................................91
6.2 Research Question 2 ........................................................................................................95

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6.2.1 Results from ACE Models for Childhood Antisocial Behavior with
Neighborhood Disadvantage as a Moderator ...............................................................95
6.2.2 Results from ACE Models for Adolescent Delinquency with Neighborhood
Disadvantage as a Moderator .......................................................................................96
6.3 Research Question 3 .......................................................................................................97
6.3.1 Results from ACE Models for Childhood Antisocial Behavior with Collective
Efficacy as a Moderator ...............................................................................................97
6.3.2 Results from ACE Models for Adolescent Delinquency with Collective Efficacy
as a Moderator..............................................................................................................98
7. DISCUSSION ......................................................................................................................109
7.1 Summary of Findings ...................................................................................................109
7.2 Limitations of the Current Study ..................................................................................114
7.3 Future Directions for Neighborhood-Level Explanations of Antisocial Behavior ......116
APPENDIX A: IRB APPROVAL FORM ...................................................................................117
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................119
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .......................................................................................................133
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 3.1: Degree of genetic relatedness by sibling pairs .............................................................46

Table 6.1: Descriptive statistics .....................................................................................................99

Table 6.2: Correlation matrix for all key variables ......................................................................100

Table 6.3: Cross-sibling correlations for childhood antisocial behavior .....................................101

Table 6.4: Cross-sibling correlations for adolescent delinquency ...............................................101

Table 6.5: Univariate ACE biometric model results for childhood antisocial behavior during ages
4-5 and 6-7 .......................................................................................................................102

Table 6.6: Univariate ACE biometric model results for childhood antisocial behavior during ages
8-9 and 10-11 ...................................................................................................................103

Table 6.7: Univariate ACE biometric model results for childhood antisocial behavior during ages
12-13 ................................................................................................................................104

Table 6.8: Univariate ACE biometric model results for adolescent delinquency during ages 10-11
and 12-13 .........................................................................................................................105

Table 6.9: Univariate ACE biometric model results for adolescent delinquency during ages 14-15
and 16-17 .........................................................................................................................106

Table 6.10: G x E biometric model results for childhood antisocial behavior and neighborhood
disadvantage .....................................................................................................................107

Table 6.11: G x E biometric model results for adolescent delinquency and neighborhood
disadvantage .....................................................................................................................107

Table 6.12: G x E biometric model results for childhood antisocial behavior and collective
efficacy .............................................................................................................................108

Table 6.13: G x E biometric model results for adolescent delinquency and collective efficacy .108

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 3.1: Gene-environment interplay between antisocial behavior and neighborhood
influences ...........................................................................................................................56

Figure 5.1: Univariate ACE biometric path model for childhood antisocial behavior and
adolescent delinquency ......................................................................................................78

Figure 5.2: G x E biometric path model for childhood antisocial behavior and neighborhood
disadvantage .......................................................................................................................84

Figure 5.3: G x E biometric path model for adolescent delinquency and neighborhood
disadvantage .......................................................................................................................85

Figure 5.4: G x E biometric path model for childhood antisocial behavior and collective
efficacy ...............................................................................................................................87

Figure 5.5: G x E biometric path model for adolescent delinquency and collective efficacy .......88

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