The results of this study also highlight another possible explanation for the inconsistent findings across studies regarding quantitative sex differences for antisocial behavior. Table 3 shows that estimates of genetic and environmental influences on antisocial behavior and the difference in these estimates for males and females can change fairly dramatically when qualitative sex differences exist but are not taken into account. For example, had the qualitative genetic or shared environmental sex difference in CD not been modeled, it might have been concluded that CD was significantly more heritable for males than females. This suggests that when qualitative sex differences cannot be detected because of low statistical power or have just not been modeled, spurious sex differences in the magnitude of genetic or environmental influences on behavior may emerge.
