When and how often do you think your actions and behaviour are affected by your genes?Many studies have been conducted that has proven that genes are the cause of various changes in appearance and behaviour. However in many cases, there are conflicts based on whether behaviour is a cause of “Nature or Nurture”.
It has been known that the environment that the children were brought up in is a major determinant of their behaviour. On the other hand, there was some research provided to suggest that ‘bullying’ is another trait that genes can express. At the University of Virginia in US, Paige Harden and colleagues have found that the cause bullying in children might also be inherited from the genes. Their study involved reviewing children born as twins; whether they had antisocial behaviours after witnessing their parents fight. The results were that they found that there was high percentage of twins having antisocial behaviour regardless of the witnessing of their parents’ fight even when their cousin (who shares similar genes) showed antisocial behaviour.
Since there are many other factors involved in the review, there is no definite answer to prove that genes are the cause of bullying behaviour in children. However, the study proved that witnessing of their parents’ fight is irrelevant to their behaviour.
Original article: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11125-genes-may-be-underestimated-cause-of-bullying.html
Min Young Kang
