Y haplogroups and aggressive behavior in a Pakistani ethnic group

Studies show that personality dimensions such as aggression are influenced by genetic factors and that allelic variants located on the Y chromosome influence such behavior. We investigated polymorphisms on the male‐specific region of the human Y chromosome in 156 unrelated males from the same ethnic background, who were administered the Punjabi translation of the Buss and Perry Aggression Questionnaire that measures four aspects that constitute aggressive behavior, i.e. physical aggression, verbal aggression, anger, and hostility. A value of .85 for Cronbach's coefficient α indicates considerable internal consistency and suggests that the psychometric properties of the aggression questionnaire can be adapted for the Pakistani population. A mean score±SD of 69.70±19.95 was obtained for the questionnaire. Each individual was genotyped following a phylogenetic hierarchical approach to define evolutionary Y haplogroups. Five Y haplogroups that are commonly found in Eurasia and Pakistan comprised 87% (n=136) of the population sample, with one haplogroup, R1a1, constituting 55% of the sampled population. A comparison of the total and four subscale mean scores across the five common Y haplogroups that were present at a frequency ≥3% in this ethnic group revealed no overall significant differences. However, effect‐size comparisons allowed us to detect an association of the haplogroups R2 (Cohen's d statistic=.448–.732) and R1a1 (d=.107–.448) with lower self‐reported aggression mean scores in this population. Aggr. Behav. 35:68–74, 2009. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.