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Psychology Publications
Individual Differences in Multiple Dimensions of Aggression: A Univariate and Multivariate Genetic Analysis
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-1-1999
Journal
Twin Research
Volume
2
Issue
1
First Page
16
Last Page
21
URL with Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1375/136905299320566068
Abstract
Previous behaviour genetic studies of aggression have yielded inconsistent results: reported heritabilities for different types of aggressive behaviour ranging from 0 to 0.98. In the present study, 247 adult twin pairs (183 MZ pairs; 64 same-sex DZ pairs) were administered seven self-report questionnaires which yielded 18 measures of aggression. Univariate genetic analyses showed moderate to high heritabilities for 14 of these 18 measures and for a general aggression factor and three correlated aggression factors extracted from the measures. Multivariate genetic analyses showed sizeable genetic correlations between the different dimensions of aggression. Thus, individual differences in many types of aggressive behaviour are attributable to some extent to genetic factors and there is considerable overlap between the genes that operate on different types of aggressive behaviour.