Many researchers, clinicians, and laypersons have assumed that childhood maltreatment causes conduct problems in children despite a lack of conclusive evidence (Widom 1989; DiLalla and Gottesman 1991). This hypothesis is consistent with prospective studies demonstrating that maltreatment often precedes children’s adverse outcomes (English et al. 2001; Widom 2000; Stouthamer-Loeber et al. 2001). However, at least two possible alternative explanations exist; both implicate genetic influences, not maltreatment, as the cause of conduct problems through either passive or non-passive gene-environment correlation.
