A solution would be to allow violence in a controlled environment, rather than suppress it completely.
Boys like to fight. Instead of denying it, why not nurture it in a responsible manner? Get the angry teenage kids out of the cities and suburbs and give them a real challenge. Martial arts, full-contact, hiking, rock-climbing, white-water rafting. Whatever works to keep them busy and physically tired.
Most kids don't like to learn. Only a very few teenage boys can be entertained with math and programming puzzles. But if you give the majority of teenage boys some macho stuff to do, they will most likely embrace the challenge.
It's too bad the article doesn't provide more information and context. There are lots of studies that show people with gene x are more prone to y, but for a given individual the results are not a useful predictor of anything. Therefore it's a little troubling that people can be flagged as "potential violent gang member" based on their genetics.
There are lots of studies that show people with gene x are more prone to y
Yes, and many of those studies aren't replicated when another data set is looked at. Gene association studies related to human behavior are thus far very subject to failure of replication.
Maybe some day there will be better studies with more reliable, replicable findings. Then there should be a way to tease out what environmental influences provide resiliency and protect against the effects of risky genes. Meanwhile, the first thing to do with this result is to see if it holds up in a different cohort of young people tested for gene associations to behavior.
So the logical thing to do is to create a gene therapy correcting germlines with this variant and provide it to juvenile delinquents (or simply confirmed carriers) before they reproduce.
Next we're going to hear about the higher prevalence of this gene in minority communities, and then we'll hear how the prison-industrial complex was really wonderful all along.
[+] [-] amichail|17 years ago|reply
In both cases, there is no solution in sight.
[+] [-] TriinT|17 years ago|reply
Boys like to fight. Instead of denying it, why not nurture it in a responsible manner? Get the angry teenage kids out of the cities and suburbs and give them a real challenge. Martial arts, full-contact, hiking, rock-climbing, white-water rafting. Whatever works to keep them busy and physically tired.
Most kids don't like to learn. Only a very few teenage boys can be entertained with math and programming puzzles. But if you give the majority of teenage boys some macho stuff to do, they will most likely embrace the challenge.
[+] [-] GiraffeNecktie|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tokenadult|17 years ago|reply
Yes, and many of those studies aren't replicated when another data set is looked at. Gene association studies related to human behavior are thus far very subject to failure of replication.
http://norvig.com/experiment-design.html
Maybe some day there will be better studies with more reliable, replicable findings. Then there should be a way to tease out what environmental influences provide resiliency and protect against the effects of risky genes. Meanwhile, the first thing to do with this result is to see if it holds up in a different cohort of young people tested for gene associations to behavior.
[+] [-] skushch|17 years ago|reply
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAOA#Warrior_gene
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maori#Modern_socio-economic_iss...
http://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/120-1250/2441/
[+] [-] ilaksh|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] qaexl|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kingkawn|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|17 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] joeycfan|17 years ago|reply