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Anti-social behaviours are actions that harm or lack consideration for the well-being of others. It has also been defined as any type of conduct that violates the basic rights of another person and any behaviour that is considered to be disruptive to others in society. This can be carried out in various ways, which includes but is not limited to intentional aggression, as well as covert and overt hostility. Anti-social behaviour also develops through social interaction within the family and community. It continuously affects a child's temperament, cognitive ability and their involvement with negative peers, dramatically affecting children's problem solving skills. Many people also label behaviour which is deemed contrary to prevailing norms for social conduct as anti-social behaviour. However, researchers have stated that it is a difficult term to define, particularly in the United Kingdom where there are an infinite number of acts that fall into its category. The term is especially used in British English.

Although the term is fairly new to the common lexicon, the word “anti-social behaviour” has been used for many years in the psychosocial world where it was defined as “unwanted behaviour as the result of personality disorder." For example, David Farrington, a British criminologist and forensic psychologist, stated that teenagers can exhibit anti-social behaviours by engaging in various amounts of wrongdoings such as stealing, vandalism, sexual promiscuity, excessive smoking, heavy drinking, confrontations with parents, and gambling.

Anti-social is frequently used, incorrectly, to mean either "nonsocial" or "unsociable". The words are not synonyms. Anti-social behaviour is typically associated with other behavioural and developmental issues such as hyperactivity, depression, learning disabilities and impulsivity. Alongside these issues one can be predisposed or more inclined to develop such behaviour due to one's genetics, neurobiological and environmental stressors in the prenatal stage of one's life through the early childhood years.

Some researchers have stated that youth who experience deficits emotionally and physiologically early on in life, are at a greater risk of developing behavioural problems as they age, as issues with self-regulation are observed. However, more research is required.

The American Psychiatric Association, in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, diagnoses persistent anti-social behaviour as antisocial personality disorder. Genetic factors include abnormalities in the prefrontal cortex of the brain while neurobiological ricks include maternal drug use during pregnancy, birth complications, low birth weight, prenatal brain damage, traumatic head injury, and chronic illness. The World Health Organization includes it in the International Classification of Diseases as dissocial personality disorder. A pattern of persistent anti-social behaviours can also be present in children and adolescents diagnosed with conduct problems, including conduct disorder or oppositional defiant disorder under the DSM-5.

It has been suggested that individuals with intellectual disabilities have higher tendencies to display anti-social behaviours, but this may be related to social deprivation and mental health problems. More research is required on this topic.

Anti-social behaviour is not acceptable in any society.

Genetics
A recent genome-wide analysis of anti-social behaviour in a large combined sample has shown that a large number of genetic variants of low individual effect play a role in anti-social behaviour. Moreover, this study showed that several variants show gender-specific effects on anti-social behaviour in males and females. In studies where identical as well as fraternal twins were involved, researchers have suggested that genes account for about 40-50% of the variability in aggression influences, and that the environmental has about a 40% influence on an individual. Shared influences (i.e individuals or siblings living in the same household with the same family impact individuals by about 15%. Physical aggression also appears to be more genetically influenced than relational genetics.