Word: ganges
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...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...
...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...
...Beaver's study shows, not all carriers of the defective MAO-A gene join a gang, and not all gang members have the defect. It remains largely unknown how common the low-active gene variant is in the general population, though one 2002 study indicated that genetic factors, including MAO-A, account for as much as 50% of the population variance in risk for antisocial behaviors. Additionally, Beaver's and other studies have found that low levels of the MAO-A enzyme affect only men, despite the fact that the MAO-A gene is located on the X chromosome...
Beaver cites last month's prevention study as key to understanding how to best make use of his latest findings on MAO-A and gang membership. If policymakers wish to prevent violence, he says, money would be better spent not hunting for gene-based drugs, say, but expanding and improving neighborhood-based intervention programs, such as early childhood education and after-school activities...