about bullying

Source: Vitality, 1999, 4(3).

The APA Monitor reports on a huge study of antisocial behaviour with 1500 pairs of Swedish and British twins. Some of these twins were identical, that is, they shared all of the same genes. Some were fraternal, sharing about half of their genes. Twin studies help psychologists to determine whether genes or environment are having more impact on behaviour.

These researchers discovered that identical twins are more likely to be similar in their degree of antisocial aggressive behaviour, such as bullying or hitting. This suggests a genetic component. Identical and fraternal twin boys are equally likely, however, to share symptoms of nonaggressive antisocial behaviour. Researchers believe that this suggests that these nonaggressive antisocial behaviours might be more influenced by the environment. Nonaggressive antisocial behaviour in girls, they report, seems to be more genetically driven. Peers in this study had a significant impact on antisocial behaviour. The nature and extent of this impact might be different within the same set of twins.