A new study revealed that study of MAOA gene can help in predicting impulsive violent behaviour in men. Study showed that drinking and triggered high-activity MAOA can predict the risk of impulsive violence, while aging may decrease this risk

Research team led by Roope Tikkanen, a researcher in the department of psychiatry at Helsinki University Central Hospital analyzed the data collected from174 Finnish alcoholic male offenders originally recruited between 1990 and 1998. Data regarding psychiatric assessment, alcohol consumption and violent behavior was collected. The study subjects were genotyped for polymorphisms of MAOA.

Tikkanen said, "Increased alcohol consumption and aging seem to predict violence although these risk factors "work" in opposite directions, and only concern individuals who have been given by nature a high-activity variant of MAOA."

He added that individuals with low-activity MAOA seem to be at risk for criminality and violence after exposure to severe childhood maltreatment.

Researchers concluded that the high-activity MAOA offenders may be helped to control their violent behaviours by coaching to maintain alcohol abstinence, and possibly by psychopharmacological treatment to increase central serotonin levels.