Children and adolescents in high-risk environments more likely to become violent adults
(PHYSorg.com Medicine & Health)

Children and adolescents who grow up with one or more of these environmental risk factors are likely to resort to violence, aggression and crime as adults, irrespective of an underlying mental illness. This is according to a new study in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, which is published by Springer Nature. Thirty-two researchers contributed to the interdisciplinary work which was led by Hannelore Ehrenreich of the Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine in Germany. The study, with equally contributing first authors, Marina Mitjans, Jan Seidel and Martin Begemann, provides a first solid hint that growing up in extreme societal conditions can markedly alter gene expression through a process called epigenetics.