Testing Quasi-Causal Relations between Delinquency and Victimization in Adolescence: A Genetically Informed Approach

• In Event: Recent Developments in Biosocial Research on Head Injury, Offending, and Victimization

Abstract

The association between victimization and offending is widely replicated in the existing body of research. This phenomenon ― known as the victim-offender overlap ― suggests that patterns of victimization and offending are highly interrelated (Berg & Mulford, 2020). The link between victimization and offending may be especially pronounced during adolescence – a time period in which offending and victimization is observed to increase. To date, relatively little research examines bi-directional relations between offending and victimization during adolescence while controlling for genetic and environmental sources of confounding. Using a sample of MZ and DZ twins from Waves I and II of the AddHealth, the current study applies a direction of causality behavior-genetic modeling approach (Heath et al., 1993) to examine the directionality of effects between delinquency and victimization. The results from the analyses and implications for future work on the victim-offender overlap are discussed.

Authors

• Eric Cooke, University of Alberta

• Eric Connolly, Sam Houston State University

• Danielle Boisvert, Sam Houston State University