How Biosocial Research Can Improve Interventions for Antisocial Behavior

DOI10.1177/1043986218810608
Published date01 February 2019
Date01 February 2019
Subject MatterArticles
https://doi.org/10.1177/1043986218810608
Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice
2019, Vol. 35(1) 103 –119
© The Author(s) 2018
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DOI: 10.1177/1043986218810608
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Article
How Biosocial Research
Can Improve Interventions
for Antisocial Behavior
Andrea L. Glenn1 and Katie E. McCauley1
Abstract
Biological factors have been found to influence the development of antisocial behavior.
These factors also affect how individuals respond to the environment, including
how individuals respond to interventions designed to reduce antisocial behavior.
Interventions for youth with antisocial behavior may have the greatest impact if they
are targeted toward youth who need it the most (e.g., those who are mostly likely
to persist in their behavior problems) as well as youth who may benefit the most
from the program. This article discusses potential benefits of a biosocial approach to
interventions, as well as the potential ethical concerns that arise.
Keywords
brain, genetics, hormones, intervention, ethics
Youth who develop antisocial behavior at early ages are at greater risk for criminal
behavior in adulthood than those with later occurring antisocial behavior (Jaffee,
Strait, & Odgers, 2012). Several interventions have been developed to prevent the
development of behavior problems in youth who are showing early signs of antisocial
behavior. However, these programs are often complex and expensive and the average
effects are often modest (McCart, Priester, Davies, & Azen, 2006). Modest effects may
be due to the fact that the programs are not uniformly effective—they do not work
equally well for all children (Lochman et al., 2015). This produces several challenges
for interventionists. First, it is critical to determine which youth are most in need of
interventions. For example, in the absence of intervention, some youth may naturally
“age out” of behavior problems whereas others may develop even more serious behav-
ioral problems. These two groups may appear similar in behavioral symptoms at a
1The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA
Corresponding Author:
Andrea L. Glenn, Department of Psychology, Center for the Prevention of Youth Behavior Problems,
The University of Alabama, Box 870348, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 USA.
Email: alglenn1@ua.edu
810608CCJXXX10.1177/1043986218810608Journal of Contemporary Criminal JusticeGlenn and McCauley
research-article2018
104 Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 35(1)
single time point, but may develop very different trajectories (Moffitt, 1993). If we
could determine which youth are on a trajectory for persistent behavior problems and
target them with more intensive intervention programs, we would greatly improve our
ability to reap the most benefit from limited intervention resources.
Another challenge is to determine which type of intervention might work best for a
particular child. There is significant heterogeneity in youth with externalizing prob-
lems, and research suggests that different factors may lead to behavioral problems in
different individuals (Connell & Frye, 2006; Frick, 2012). Whereas some children
may have deficits related to emotional responding, others may have difficulty with
self-regulation and attention. Thus, to improve the effectiveness of interventions, it
seems essential to understand the factors that affect intervention responses, and to use
this information either in the selection of youth for intervention programs, or to tailor
programs to specific youth.
Here, we suggest that biological factors provide information about variation
between individuals, and thus a biosocial approach, combining biological and psycho-
social information, may be useful in (a) determining which youth most need interven-
tions, and (b) determining which intervention might work best for a particular child.
This consideration of biological information alongside existing measures of psychoso-
cial variables may improve our ability to reap the most benefit from our intervention
efforts.
A study by Albert et al. (2015) provides a real-world example of the importance of
considering biological factors in interventions. Albert et al. examined variants of a
specific gene to see whether it affected responsiveness to the Fast Track intervention.
Fast Track was a 10-year multilevel intervention program delivering services to high-
risk children. Albert et al. (2015) found that for carriers of a particular variant of this
gene, the intervention made a very large difference—18% of children receiving the
intervention demonstrated externalizing psychopathology at adult follow-up com-
pared with 75% of control group children with the same gene variant. However, for
noncarriers of the gene variant, the intervention had no effect; there was no difference
in the level of externalizing problems between those receiving the intervention and
those not. An economic evaluation of Fast Track intervention estimated the total cost
of the 10-year program to be US$58,000 per child (Foster & Jones, 2006). Thus, deliv-
ering this kind of intervention to the children who are most likely to benefit would
result in better outcomes overall. This study also suggests that in addition to benefiting
more from the intervention, children with this gene variant would fare worse in the
absence of intervention (i.e., 75% of children in the control group with this gene vari-
ant showed behavior problems versus 57% of children in the control group without the
variant). Finally, improving our understanding of why noncarrier youth did not
respond, and focusing efforts on developing interventions that would benefit those
youth would be a more effective use of resources than administering interventions to
youth for whom they are unlikely to be effective.
Although using such biological information to “individualize” intervention pro-
grams may improve intervention efficacy, there are ethical issues that arise concerning
risks such as stigma, discrimination, privacy, and equity of service provisions. In this

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