Polygenic Resilience on the Association between Childhood Maltreatment, Delinquency, and Victimization

Childhood maltreatment is a harmful form of interpersonal victimization associated with the development of maladaptive behavior throughout the life course. Within the context of criminology, childhood maltreatment has been linked to an increased likelihood of engaging in delinquent behavior and being the victim of a crime. However, not everyone who experiences victimization will develop maladaptive behaviors, engage in delinquency, or experience victimization. This subset of individuals are considered resilient to the adverse effects of childhood maltreatment. Studies have identified several factors that promote resilience in response to childhood maltreatment. Few studies have examined how polygenic scores influence resilience to childhood maltreatment in relation to delinquency and victimization later in life. The current dissertation seeks to address this gap by using latent growth modeling techniques to assess the moderating influence of polygenic scores as a source of resilience between childhood maltreatment, delinquent behavior, and criminal victimization in adolescence and young adulthood. Results indicate that the polygenic score for depression moderated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and delinquency while the polygenic score for extraversion moderated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and victimization. These findings have implications for the ecological transactional model as well as the differential susceptibility perspective.