One way of assessing the possible role of behaviour in explaining the heritability of environmental measures is to examine the degree of genetic overlap between environmental measures and behavioural phenotypes (Saudino and Plomin 1997; Pike et al. 1996). Taking this approach researchers have detected genetic overlap between (amongst others) parental negativity and depression (Pike et al. 1996), peer deviance and conduct problems (Button et al. 2007), and life events and personality (Saudino et al. 1997). Overlap of this sort suggests that the heritability of environmental measures may be explicable through their association with heritable behavioural phenotypes. That is, if the heritability of negative life events is partially accounted for by its association with delinquent behaviour, this would be consistent with the notion that the genetically influenced delinquency of the adolescent leads to (or is associated with) an environment in which negative life events are likely to occur.
