Differential susceptibility to social environments 1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Neurogenetics and differential susceptibility to criminogenic social environments: How do young people develop and express crime propensities?
IRAS ID
172470
Contact name
Kyle Treiber
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Cambridge
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 31 days
Research summary
In recent years, an exciting new direction of study has been the role of genetics, and particularly gene-environment interactions, in people’s personal and behavioural outcomes. However, most genetic studies lack compelling measures of social environments and, especially, people's exposure to social environments, and rarely assess the role of change and stability in exposure over time. No study as far as we are aware has linked both genetic and neurocognitive data to detailed longitudinal data on people's exposure to social environments. This study will address this shortcoming by conducting an original genetic study, using the latest methods for DNA analysis, with links to the Peterborough Adolescent and Young Adult Development Study (PADS+), an on-going longitudinal study which uses innovative methods to study personal characteristics and behaviours and exposure to social environments. PADS+ has already collected more than 10 years of unique and detailed data spanning the period from adolescence to young adulthood from a contemporary UK cohort; hence the genetic study will only entail the collection of saliva samples from the 670 PADS+ participants who are currently enrolled in the study. The genetic study is funded from October 1 2014 until March 31 2016, with sample collection scheduled from early to mid 2015.
The main objective of this research is to bring together advanced methods from human genetic and social environmental research to study gene-environment interactions in the development of people's propensities and behaviours, bridging the gap between two very divergent perspectives. In doing so, the study aspires to advance knowledge about which genetic and environmental factors are especially important for people's social behaviours, why they are important and, consequently, what policies and practices may be most effective in supporting people’s natural social capacities and diverting them from antisocial propensities and behaviour.
REC name
Wales REC 6
REC reference
15/WA/0030
Date of REC Opinion
26 Jan 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion