About Terrie E Moffitt
Terrie E Moffitt is a Professor of Social Behavior and Development in the Medical Research Council's Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre at the Institute of Psychiatry of the University of London (UK), and Professor of Psychology at Duke University (USA).
She has a leadership role in major social, psychological and biological studies of crime and human development around the world. Her work on the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study in New Zealand has identified patterns of intimate as well as stranger crime, including discoveries about the role of females as initiators of violence. In 2002 she and her colleagues reported in SCIENCE on the environmental interaction of child abuse with a genetic predisposition to low expression of Monoamine Oxidase A, an enzyme that regulates major neurotransmitters at the synapses of the brain's neurons. People who lack both this predisposition and a history of child abuse had much lower levels of violent behavior by early adulthood than people who had both these environmental and genetic risk factors for violence.
This finding has stimulated a global discussion of the idea of criminal intent and responsibility, as well as raising profound questions about humane strategies for crime prevention among abused children at risk of future violence.
Professor Moffitt is also carrying out an important large-scale follow-up of twins in the UK to investigate biological, psychological, and social influences on development.
Key facts on Terrie E Moffitt
Born: 1955 in Nuremberg, Germany
Employment: Professor of Social Behaviour and Development, King's College London
Web-Site: http://internal.iop.kcl.ac.uk/ipublic/staff/profile/external.aspx?go=10611
Publications representative of the work of Terrie E. Moffitt:
1. Moffitt, T. E. (2005). The new Look of Behavioral Genetics in Developmental Psychopathology: Gene - Environment Interplay in Antisocial Behaviors. Psychological Bulletin, 131, 522-554.
2. Moffitt, TE, & the E-risk Study Team (39 authors). (2002). Teen-aged Mothers in Contemporary Britain. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 43, 727-742.
3. Caspi, A., McClay, J, Moffitt, T., Mill, J., Martin, J., Craig, I, Taylor, A., & Poulton, R. (2002). Evidence That the Cycle of Violence in Maltreated Children Depends on Genotype. Science, 297, 851-854.
4. Jaffee, SR, Moffitt, TE, Caspi, A, Fombonne, E., Martin, J. & Poulton, R. (2002). Early Childhood Risk Factors Differentiate Child-onset Versus Adult-onset Depression in a Prospective, Longitudinal Study. Archives of General Psychiatry, 58, 215-222.
5. Cannon, M., Caspi, A. Moffitt, TE, Harrington, HL, Taylor, A, Murray, R, & Poulton, R. (2002). Evidence for Early, Specific, Pan-Developmental Impairment in Schizophreniform Disorder: Results From a Longitudinal Birth Cohort. Archives of General Psychiatry, Vol. 59, pp. 449-456.
6. Moffitt, TE, Caspi, A, Rutter, M & Silva, PA (2001). Sex Differences in Antisocial Behavior: Conduct Disorder, Delinquency, and Violence in the Dunedin Longitudinal Study. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
7. Moffitt, T. E., Brammer, G., Caspi, A., Fawcett, P., Raleigh, M., Yuwiler, A. & Silva, P.A. (1998). Whole Blood Serotonin Relates to Violence in an Epidemiological Study. Biological Psychiatry, 43, 446-457.
8. Moffitt, T. E. & Caspi, A. (1998). Violence Between Intimate Partners: Implications for Child Psychologists and Psychiatrists. J. of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 39, 137-144.
9. Moffitt, T. E. (1993). Life-course-persistent and Adolescence-limited Antisocial Behavior: A developmental taxonomy. Psychological Review, 100, 674-701.
10. Moffitt, T. E. (1990). Juvenile Delinquency and Attention Deficit Disorder: Developmental Trajectories From Age 3 to 15. Child Development, 61, 893-910.
