Antisocial behaviour is largely inherited among a significant minority of children who have trouble empathising with others, British scientists have found. A study of 3,687 pairs of seven-year-old twins has revealed strong genetic roots for poor behaviour in children who also show signs of psychopathic traits, such as a lack of remorse or understanding for the feelings of others.

The research at the King’s College London also points to environmental factors, such as social and family background, as the chief cause of antisocial activity among the larger group of badly behaved children.

Essi Viding, of the college’s Institute of Psychiatry, who led the study, said that it suggested that much teenage antisocial behaviour has origins earlier in life and that efforts to prevent it need to begin at a young age. Even when children have a genetic predisposition to such problems, this is likely to respond to environmental triggers that could be reduced by early interventions.

Research led by Temi Moffitt, one of the team members, has established that boys with a particular version of a gene called MAOA are more likely to grow into antisocial adults, but only if they are also maltreated as children. In the study, published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Dr Viding compared pairs of identical and non-identical twins. He investigated children classed by their teachers as among the most antisocial and disruptive, and further split these into two groups. One of the groups showed psychopathic or “callous-unemotional” traits, such as a lack of empathy and guilt, while the other did not.

In the callous-unemotional group, antisocial behaviour was about 81 per cent heritable ? meaning that four fifths of the differences between them and the general population appear to be explained by genetic factors.         (THE TIMES, LONDON)