Page "Juvenile delinquency" Paragraph 7

Alternatively, young men may actually be naturally more aggressive, daring and prone to risk-taking.

According to a study led by Florida State University criminologist Kevin M. Beaver, adolescent males who possess a certain type of variation in a specific gene are more likely to flock to delinquent peers.

The study, which appears in the September 2008 issue of the Journal of Genetic Psychology, is the first to establish a statistically significant association between an affinity for antisocial peer groups and a particular variation ( called the 10-repeat allele ) of the dopamine transporter gene ( DAT1 ).