Genes, Religiosity, and Criminal Behavior

• In Event: Recent Developments in Biosocial and Developmental Research

Abstract

Religiosity has been shown to be a predictor of initial criminal offending, reoffending, and desistance. To date, however, research has generally failed to assess the role that biological factors play in moderating the religiosity-crime relationship. The current study utilizes a nationally representative sample of adolescent males (N = 4,053), to explore whether variants of the dopamine transporter gene (DAT1) and the monoamine oxidase A gene (MAOA) interact with religiosity to affect self-reported criminal offending. Results of Negative Binomial regressions demonstrate that religiosity interacts with these genes to influence offending, net of controls. Importantly, once genetics are accounted for, the statistically significant effect of religiosity on offending is only evident for males who carry plasticity alleles for both DAT1 and MAOA (versus carrying 1 or 0 plasticity alleles). Thus, whether religiosity is important for criminal offending depends partly on individual genotype. Implications for theory and policy are discussed.

Author

• Stephen Watts, University of Memphis