Which Kids Join Gangs? A Genetic Explanation

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Los Angeles Police Department gang unit officers question and search confirmed MS-13 street gang members in the Rampart area of Los Angeles, California.

By Kathleen Kingsbury, Time

How much power do genes hold over behavior? Can they predict, for example, whether a child will grow up to join a gang? Those are among the questions raised by a new Florida State University (FSU) study released June 5.

Since the early 1990s, science has suggested a link between antisocial behavior and a defect in the gene that codes for an enzyme called monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A). A low level of activity on the MAO-A gene results in an excessive breakdown of neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, which helps keep humans calm and happy. The defect thereby increases the urge to react aggressively to threats or fears, leading MAO-A to be referred to as the "warrior" gene.

The latest research, however, takes the association one step further. It is the first to link low activity on the MAO-A allele in young men both to an increased likelihood of joining a gang and to a greater tendency to use weapons and violence. "For the first time, we were able to establish a direct connection between the MAO-A gene and the choosing of a violent lifestyle," says Kevin Beaver, a biosocial criminologist at FSU and lead author of the study published in Comprehensive Psychiatry.

Researchers used DNA data and self-reported lifestyle surveys from nearly 2,500 participants in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, the largest and most comprehensive survey of health-related behavior among adolescents between 7th and 12th grade, which started in 1994. Slightly more than half of the study's male participants had low-level activity on the MAO-A gene, and about 3% of the total pool reported having joined a named gang in the past year. (See pictures of gangs in New Zealand.)

Beaver and his colleagues found that those males carrying the low-active MAO-A gene were nearly twice as likely to join an organized gang than males with the high-active gene, and when in a fight, they were nearly twice as likely to brandish a weapon. Of the gang members studied, those who had a low-activity MAO-A allele were more than four times more likely to use a weapon when compared with male gang members who carried a high-activity version of the allele. "At the very least this suggests a genetic risk factor that can help us identify those youth most at risk," Beaver says. "We can then intervene earlier to prevent it."

Indeed there's little doubt that violence is the result of an uneasy mix between bad genes and a bad environment. How much control nature has over nurture, however, is the question. Previous studies of the MAO-A gene suggest that interplay may begin in early childhood. A British study of 442 New Zealand men, published in 2003, was among the first to find that those with a low-active MAO-A gene, who had been abused as children, were four times more likely to have committed rapes, robberies and assaults than the general population. Those with high-active MAO-A genes, moreover, appeared to be immune to childhood mistreatment, turning out to be no more or less violent than average. Men with low-active genes who were not the victims of child abuse were slightly less antisocial than average.

"What all these risk gene studies show us is that genes do an important job in loading the gun," says Joshua Buckholtz, a neuroscience Ph.D. candidate at Vanderbilt University's Brain Institute and Department of Psychology, who has written extensively about MAO-A gene. "But it's the environment that pulls the trigger."

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,...1903703,00.html

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Does this mean that being a violent asswipe, like (allegedly) being gay, is natural and should therefore be celebrated (like being gay is) as just another alternative lifestyle?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Does this mean that being a violent asswipe, like (allegedly) being gay, is natural and should therefore be celebrated (like being gay is) as just another alternative lifestyle?

...a little empathy goes a long way.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Does this mean that being a violent asswipe, like (allegedly) being gay, is natural and should therefore be celebrated (like being gay is) as just another alternative lifestyle?

...a little empathy goes a long way.

Should gang initiation be legally recognized and should gang members have their own corporate employee organizations, just like the gays do?

After all, it's genetic in both cases.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Does this mean that being a violent asswipe, like (allegedly) being gay, is natural and should therefore be celebrated (like being gay is) as just another alternative lifestyle?

...a little empathy goes a long way.

Should gang initiation be legally recognized and should gang members have their own corporate employee organizations, just like the gays do?

After all, it's genetic in both cases.

According to the OP, it's not entirely genetic. There are genetic triggers, just like with heart disease. Environmental factors play a key role.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

According to the OP, it's not entirely genetic. There are genetic triggers, just like with heart disease. Environmental factors play a key role.

What if being gay also had 'triggers', would we be ok with treating them the way we treat gang members?

[Heracles 417]

A.J you may want to look at these pictures and then look at which group was caught bashing Indians in Melbourne, Aus.

Hint: they say choice a lot

[Niels Bohr 72]

I honestly do not think that the lack of serotonin make people want to join gangs. If you're insomniac, which reduces serotonin levels, you still don't join gangs. I'm thinking that this research has some political agenda to it. Probably the only way to continue to get grant money.

Heck, people join gangs in their teen years because of the mentality of "who's the coolest, baddest, fearsome" buddy in town. It's more to do with ego than the genes.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

According to the OP, it's not entirely genetic. There are genetic triggers, just like with heart disease. Environmental factors play a key role.

What if being gay also had 'triggers', would we be ok with treating them the way we treat gang members?

Hey man, I'm not a scientist. I just play one on VJ.

My guess would be that you are comparing apples to oranges (a behavior to a state of being). But don't take my word for it...I'm just a peace loving hippie.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

A.J you may want to look at these pictures and then look at which group was caught bashing Indians in Melbourne, Aus.

Hint: they say choice a lot

I'm in the office, can't see pics. Just tell me.

According to the OP, it's not entirely genetic. There are genetic triggers, just like with heart disease. Environmental factors play a key role.

What if being gay also had 'triggers', would we be ok with treating them the way we treat gang members?

Hey man, I'm not a scientist. I just play one on VJ.

My guess would be that you are comparing apples to oranges (a behavior to a state of being). But don't take my word for it...I'm just a peace loving hippie.

A gang is for life, ese. Por vida, as they say. It ain't no damn behavior. It's a state of muthafuckin being, beeyotch.

Probably the only way to continue to get grant money.

So why say that? Why try to ** up someone elses gravy train?

[SMOKE 1,426]

A.J you may want to look at these pictures and then look at which group was caught bashing Indians in Melbourne, Aus.

Hint: they say choice a lot

I'm in the office, can't see pics. Just tell me.

caption under photo: Los Angeles Police Department gang unit officers question and search confirmed MS-13 street gang members in the Rampart area of Los Angeles, California

[Heracles 417]

A.J you may want to look at these pictures and then look at which group was caught bashing Indians in Melbourne, Aus.

Hint: they say choice a lot

I'm in the office, can't see pics. Just tell me.

caption under photo: Los Angeles Police Department gang unit officers question and search confirmed MS-13 street gang members in the Rampart area of Los Angeles, California

Nah a bit further down.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

A.J you may want to look at these pictures and then look at which group was caught bashing Indians in Melbourne, Aus.

Hint: they say choice a lot

I'm in the office, can't see pics. Just tell me.

caption under photo: Los Angeles Police Department gang unit officers question and search confirmed MS-13 street gang members in the Rampart area of Los Angeles, California

What does that have to do with attacks on desis in Australia, I am foncused.

[chri'stina 190]

I honestly do not think that the lack of serotonin make people want to join gangs. If you're insomniac, which reduces serotonin levels, you still don't join gangs. I'm thinking that this research has some political agenda to it. Probably the only way to continue to get grant money.

Heck, people join gangs in their teen years because of the mentality of "who's the coolest, baddest, fearsome" buddy in town. It's more to do with ego than the genes.

Not for every gang member, of course. Many times it is due to a lack of stability and influence at home, which leads them to need to depend on somebody even if that somebody is a gang member, or else have a harder go at life, unless they are able to pull through it on their own(which can happen). "Nurture" in my opinion is the biggest factor. How people handle certain things would seem to be linked to their personality which maybe genes plays a part in, but then how would that be news. Read the book "There are no children here." (I had to read it in college )

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

There are certain genetic proclivities that make a person more susceptible to addiction, but a lot of it is behavioural and environmental.