The Role of Neurobiological Deficits in Childhood Antisocial Behavior

ABSTRACT— Childhood-onset antisocial behavior is an important predictor of chronic and serious forms of antisocial behavior in later life. Both biological and social factors are involved in the development of abnormal behavior. We examine the underlying role of stress-response systems in the link between early social adversity and juvenile antisocial behavior, and propose that children with genetically and/or perinatally based neurobiological deficits have problems in activating these systems and therefore experience difficulties in regulating affect and behavior. Underactivity or attenuated reactivity of the stress-response systems may predispose antisocial individuals to seek out stimulation or take risks, and thereby explain deficits in learning and socialization. Further investigations of neurobiological functioning in antisocial children might not only indicate which children are more likely to persist in behaving antisocially but also guide the development of new interventions.     

Conduct Disorder and Psychosocial Outcomes at Age 30: Early Adult Psychopathology as a Potential Mediator

Conduct disorder (CD) is associated with a number of adverse psychosocial outcomes in adulthood. There is consistent evidence that CD is predictive of antisocial behavior, but mixed evidence that CD is predictive of other externalizing and internalizing disorders. Further, externalizing and internalizing disorders are often associated with similar psychosocial outcomes as CD. However, relatively little work has examined whether forms of psychopathology (e.g., externalizing and/or internalizing disorders) mediates the relationship between youth CD and adult psychosocial outcomes. The present study examined associations between youth CD and adult psychosocial outcomes and sought to identify forms of psychopathology that may potentially mediate this relationship. Participants completed self-report measures of psychosocial functioning and semi-structured diagnostic interviews during adolescence and young adulthood. Analyses found that most domains of adult psychosocial functioning were associated with youth CD. Adult antisocial behavior was the only form of psychopathology predicted by CD. Adult antisocial behavior appeared to mediate the relationship between CD and marital status, life satisfaction, and being in jail and partially mediated the relationship between CD and family support and global functioning. These data suggest that reducing the progression to adult antisocial behavior may improve multiple psychosocial outcomes among those with a history of CD.     

反社会行为的遗传基础:基因多态性和DNA甲基化

反社会行为是受遗传与环境共同影响的不良行为。分子遗传学和神经生物学的研究发现,基因以基因多态性和DNA甲基化的方式影响脑结构、功能及脑内神经递质的产生和释放,进而影响反社会行为的发生发展。本文从基因多态性和DNA甲基化两方面整理了5-HTT、MAOA、OXTR等8个候选基因与反社会行为的关联。并提出未来研究需进一步探讨基因、脑和神经递质对反社会行为的联合作用。同时,扩展多基因位点、基因多态性与DNA甲基化、积极环境与基因交互作用对反社会行为影响的研究,以全面探索反社会行为发生的遗传基础,进而更加有效的预防反社会行为。     

反社会行为的遗传基础:基因多态性和DNA甲基化

反社会行为是受遗传与环境共同影响的不良行为。分子遗传学和神经生物学的研究发现,基因以基因多态性和DNA甲基化的方式影响脑结构、功能及脑内神经递质的产生和释放,进而影响反社会行为的发生发展。本文从基因多态性和DNA甲基化两方面整理了5-HTT、MAOA、OXTR等8个候选基因与反社会行为的关联。并提出未来研究需进一步探讨基因、脑和神经递质对反社会行为的联合作用。同时,扩展多基因位点、基因多态性与DNA甲基化、积极环境与基因交互作用对反社会行为影响的研究,以全面探索反社会行为发生的遗传基础,进而更加有效的预防反社会行为。     

Reputation management of adolescents in relation to antisocial behavior

Recent studies have emphasized the need to consider psychosocial and motivational variables in the study of antisocial behavior in adolescents. Thus, several studies have highlighted the importance of reputation management as a possible explanatory factor. This process of reputation management enables young people to form an image of themselves that they may use in their social interactions. In this study the authors carried out an investigation with data from a sample of 493 adolescents and analyzed (a) the relationships between adolescent reputation management and antisocial behavior and (b) the role of gender in this relationship. The results revealed that a perceived social identity as nonconforming was the best predictor of adolescent antisocial behavior, especially for girls, The data support previous findings on the importance of considering the establishment and management of reputation in the analysis of adolescent antisocial behavior.     

Reputation Management of Adolescents in Relation to Antisocial Behavior

Recent studies have emphasized the need to consider psychosocial and motivational variables in the study of antisocial behavior in adolescents. Thus, several studies have highlighted the importance of reputation management as a possible explanatory factor. This process of reputation management enables young people to form an image of themselves that they may use in their social interactions. In this study the authors carried out an investigation with data from a sample of 493 adolescents and analyzed (a) the relationships between adolescent reputation management and antisocial behavior and (b) the role of gender in this relationship. The results revealed that a perceived social identity as nonconforming was the best predictor of adolescent antisocial behavior, especially for girls. The data support previous findings on the importance of considering the establishment and management of reputation in the analysis of adolescent antisocial behavior.     

Genetic influences on the overlap between low IQ and antisocial behavior in young children

The well-documented relation between the phenotypes of low IQ and childhood antisocial behavior could be explained by either common genetic influences or environmental influences. These competing explanations were examined through use of the Environmental Risk Longitudinal Twin Study 1994-1995 cohort (Moffitt & the E-Risk Study Team, 2002) of 1,116 twin pairs and their families. Children's IQ was assessed via individual testing at age 5 years. Mothers and teachers reported on children's antisocial behavior at ages 5 and 7 years. Low IQ was related to antisocial behavior at age 5 years and predicted relatively higher antisocial behavior scores at age 7 years when antisocial behavior at age 5 years was controlled. This association was significantly stronger among boys than among girls. Genetic influences common to both phenotypes explained 100% of the low IQ-antisocial behavior relation in boys. Findings suggest that specific candidate genes and neurobiological processes should be tested in relation to both phenotypes.     

Clarifying the role of defensive reactivity deficits in psychopathy and antisocial personality using startle reflex methodology

Prior research has demonstrated deficits in defensive reactivity (indexed by potentiation of the startle blink reflex) in psychopathic individuals. However, the basis of this association remains unclear, as diagnostic criteria for psychopathy encompass two distinct phenotypic components that may reflect differing neurobiological mechanisms-an affective-interpersonal component and an antisocial deviance component. Likewise, the role of defensive response deficits in antisocial personality disorder (APD), a related but distinct syndrome, remains to be clarified. In the current study, the authors examined affective priming deficits in relation to factors of psychopathy and symptoms of APD using startle reflex methods in 108 adult male prisoners. Deficits in blink reflex potentiation during aversive picture viewing were found in relation to the affective-interpersonal (Factor 1) component of psychopathy, and to a lesser extent in relation to the antisocial deviance (Factor 2) component of psychopathy and symptoms of APD-but only as a function of their overlap with affective-interpersonal features of psychopathy. These findings provide clear evidence that deficits in defensive reactivity are linked specifically to the affective-interpersonal features of psychopathy and not to the antisocial deviance features represented most strongly in APD.     

Maternal expressed emotion predicts children's antisocial behavior problems: using monozygotic-twin differences to identify environmental effects on behavioral development

If maternal expressed emotion is an environmental risk factor for children's antisocial behavior problems, it should account for behavioral differences between siblings growing up in the same family even after genetic influences on children's behavior problems are taken into account. This hypothesis was tested in the Environmental Risk Longitudinal Twin Study with a nationally representative 1994-1995 birth cohort of twins. The authors interviewed the mothers of 565 five-year-old monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs and established which twin in each family received more negative emotional expression and which twin received more warmth. Within MZ pairs, the twin receiving more maternal negativity and less warmth had more antisocial behavior problems. Qualitative interviews were used to generate hypotheses about why mothers treat their children differently. The results suggest that maternal emotional attitudes toward children may play a causal role in the development of antisocial behavior and illustrate how genetically informative research can inform tests of socialization hypotheses.     

The almost untreatable narcissistic patient

Clinical experience in the Personality Disorders Institute at Weill Cornell Medical College suggests that patients with borderline personality organization and a narcissistic personality disorder have a more serious prognosis than all other personality disorders functioning at the borderline level, and that those who in addition present significant antisocial behavior have an even worse prognosis (Clarkin, Yeomans, and Kernberg 1999; Stone 1990). This negative trend culminates in a group of practically untreatable patients with antisocial personality disorder, who represent the most severe cases of pathological narcissism. There are also patients with severe narcissistic personality disorder, functioning at an overt borderline level with significant antisocial features, but not presenting an antisocial personality disorder proper, who at times respond to treatment, while others do not. These patients are explored here, with a focus on particular psychotherapeutic techniques that have proven helpful, as well as on the limits of these technical approaches.     

低静息心率与反社会行为的关系

由于静息心率易测性, 对静息心率的研究成为研究攻击和犯罪行为生理机制的重要手段之一。研究发现低静息心率与多种反社会行为存有关, 无论是动物研究, 人类研究还是跨文化的研究都表明了这种关系的存在。但元分析的结果表明低静息心率与反社会行为之间关系的效应量只是中等水平。同时, 社会经济因素和人格因素对低静息心率与反社会行为之间的关系有影响。低静息心率可能与低恐惧或低唤醒的特质、去甲肾上腺素功能减弱、大脑右半球功能减弱等因素有关。     

Structural and functional MRI- findings in children and adolescents with antisocial behavior

BACKGROUND: The developmental course of children with conduct disorder (CD) is heterogeneous. Especially children who exhibit symptoms early in their lifetimes are characterized by a negative outcome. Neurobiological aspects of CD have been investigated in these children but little is known about structural and functional brain aberrations. METHODS: We describe the developmental taxonomy of children with CD and focus on those with the early onset subtype. Structural MRI data of these children and antisocial adults are recapitulated. The impact of investigating neurobiological underpinnings of antisocial behavior and how this might contribute to future forensic and psychiatric assessments is discussed. RESULTS/ CONCLUSION: Children display similar structural aberrations of fronto-limbic structures to adults with antisocial behavior, and amygdala dysfunction might be closely related to dysregulated emotions. Though the investigation of biological factors in antisocial subjects has made great progress in recent years, today MRI is still a rather complex, expensive and indistinct method for forensic assessment.     

Understanding violence: Does psychoanalytic thinking matter?

A coherent psychoanalytic theory of violence has been hindered by the very few psychoanalysts who have actually worked with violent patients, by political allegiance to certain psychoanalytic schools of thought, a naïve belief that all violence is typically not intentional, but rather a problem of impulse control, and the lack of understanding of recent neurobiological findings concerning aggression. Although intensive psychoanalytic treatment is usually not appropriate for violent individuals, the authors assert that a comprehensive understanding of violent behavior from a psychoanalytic perspective is of relevance for all mental health practitioners interested in the nature of human aggression. Actual violence is informed by bodily enactments and regressions to primitive subjective states; the effects of trauma on representation and symbolic functioning; the demarcation between affective and predatory violence; and understanding how all of our mental processes, including cognitions, wishes, memories, unconscious phantasies, ego-defenses, and object relations, are originally rooted in the body. The authors review the historical psychoanalytic literature on violence and critique contemporary psychoanalytic theorizing regarding the etiology of violent behavior in the light of some neurobiological research findings. They conclude with treatment recommendations for those clinicians whose patients have been violent toward others.     

Family predictors of antisocial behavior in adolescence

The goal of the present study was to examine the combined and unique ability of different aspects of family functioning to predict involvement in antisocial behavior in a large nonclinical (community) sample of adolescents. Distinction was made between global (e.g., family socioeconomic status), distal (dispositional characteristics of parents), contextual (family characteristics), and proximal (parent-child interaction) factors that operate within families. Results show that proximal factors were significant predictors of antisocial behavior, independent of their shared variance with other factors. Consistent with the hypothesized mediational model, the effects of distal and contextual factors appear to be mostly indirect: after their association with proximal factors was taken into account, these factors were no longer significantly related to antisocial behavior. The implications of these findings for planning of developmentally appropriate interventions for adolescents and their families are discussed.     

Interaction between Prenatal Maternal Stress and Autonomic Arousal in Predicting Conduct Problems and Psychopathic Traits in Children

Evidence has suggested that neurobiological deficits combine with psychosocial risk factors to impact on the development of antisocial behavior. The current study concentrated on the interplay of prenatal maternal stress and autonomic arousal in predicting antisocial behavior and psychopathic traits. Prenatal maternal stress was assessed by caregiver’s retrospective report, and resting heart rate and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) were measured in 295 8- to 10-year-old children. Child and caregiver also reported on child’s antisocial behavior and psychopathic traits. Higher prenatal maternal stress was associated with higher caregiver-reported antisocial and psychopathy scores, even after the concurrent measure of social adversity was controlled for. As expected, low heart rate and high RSA were associated with high antisocial and psychopathic traits. More importantly, significant interaction effects were found; prenatal stress was positively associated with multiple dimensions of psychopathic traits only on the conditions of low arousal (e.g., low heart rate or high RSA). Findings provide further support for a biosocial perspective of antisocial and psychopathic traits, and illustrate the importance of integrating biological with psychosocial measures to fully understand the etiology of behavioral problems.     

A twin study of the association between pathological gambling and antisocial personality disorder

Many individuals with a history of pathological gambling (PG) also have a history of engaging in antisocial behaviors, and this has often been interpreted as a result of the former causing the latter. In a sample of 7,869 men in 4,497 twin pairs from the Vietnam Era Twin Registry, the authors examined (a) the association between PG and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), (b) the extent to which PG might be differentially associated with childhood conduct disorder (CD) and adult antisocial behavior (AAB), and (c) the contribution of genetic and environmental factors to the association of PG with ASPD, CD, and AAB. PG was significantly associated with all 3 antisocial behavior disorders, and the association of PG with ASPD, CD, and AAB was predominantly explained by genetic factors. The results of this study suggest that the greater-than-chance co-occurrence of PG and antisocial behavior disorders is partially due to their sharing a common genetic vulnerability. The antisocial behavior observed among many individuals with PG probably cannot be interpreted as being simply a consequence of the PG.     

Neuropsychological executive functioning in children at elevated risk for alcoholism: findings in early adolescence

One component of individual risk for alcoholism may involve cognitive vulnerabilities prodromal to alcoholism onset. This prospective study of 198 boys followed between 3 and 14 years of age evaluated neurocognitive functioning across three groups who varied in familial risk for future alcoholism. Measures of intelligence, reward-response, and a battery of neuropsychological executive and cognitive inhibitory measures were used. Executive functioning weaknesses were greater in families with alcoholism but no antisocial comorbidity. IQ and reward-response weaknesses were associated with familial antisocial alcoholism. Executive function effects were clearest for response inhibition, response speed, and symbol-digit modalities. Results suggest that executive deficits are not part of the highest risk, antisocial pathway to alcoholism but that some executive function weaknesses may contribute to a secondary risk pathway.     

Contributions of impulsivity and callousness in the assessment of adjudicated male adolescents: a prospective study

This study examined whether delinquent adolescents with low scores on personality scales related to callousness and impulsivity would show less antisocial behavior and better psychosocial functioning compared to those elevated on 1 or both scales. A group of 162 White and African American male adolescents, recently adjudicated in a southern youth court system, were assessed at baseline and at 18-month follow-up. Dependent variables included measures of antisocial and prosocial behaviors, days detained in juvenile detention, and symptoms of psychopathology. As hypothesized, adolescents low on both callousness and impulsivity spent fewer days detained and reported less antisocial behavior and fewer symptoms of psychopathology compared to those high on I or both scales. Finally, African American participants were detained for more days, but did not report significantly more antisocial behaviors or symptoms of psychopathology compared to the White adolescents. The results suggest that being low on callousness and impulsivity may serve a protective role for future delinquent behavior for both African American and White adolescents.     

Socioeconomic,family, and social stress correlates of adolescent antisocial and delinquent behavior

A total of 84 male and female adolescents were surveyed for SFS, family systemic functioning, and four types of social stress (Induced Transitions, Daily Hassles, Developmental Transitions, and Circumscribed Life Events) in relation to level of antisocial and delinquent behavior to determine the individual and cumulative effect of these psychosocial predictors. Univariate analyses indicated that perceived and Desired Family Cohesion, Daily Hassles, Circumscribed Life Events, and Developmental Transitions correlated significantly with reported antisocial and delinquent behavior, but SES and gender did not. Multivariate analyses affirmed that SES was of little use in understanding such behavior, at least among the general population, and that family functioning and social stress contributed interactively. Desired Cohesion was the most reliable indicator, with other family and stress variables' importance differing for males and females. These findings suggest that a family's ability to support each other and to harness that support to cope with transitions and stress during adolescence relates to a lower level of antisocial behavior.     

Childhood Social Predictors of Adolescent Antisocial Behavior: Gender Differences in Predictive Accuracy and Efficacy

This study examined the ability of several childhood, school-based, social variables to correctly classify antisocial adolescents. Children (N = 314; 163 boys, 151 girls) in the 3rd–5th grade were assessed on academic and social variables (i.e., peer rejection, aggression, withdrawal, and low prosocial behavior) and followed forward for 6–7 years until the 9th and 10th grade. Adolescent antisocial outcomes included a consensus measure formed from diagnostic interviews, contact with juvenile authorities, adolescent self-report, and mother's report. The gender-differential predictive accuracy and efficacy of the early predictor domains to a consensus measure of antisocial behavior were compared with the same estimates found for adolescent self-report of antisocial behavior. Both gender and criterion-method differences were found. For girls, regardless of the measure of antisocial behavior, early academic problems were the strongest predictors of future problems. For boys' self-reported antisocial outcomes, peer rejection was the strongest independent predictor. For consensus-reported antisocial outcomes, both early fighting–anger and withdrawn behavior displayed equally strong predictive relations. For boys, the combination of early fighting–anger and disruptive and withdrawn behavior was the strongest set of predictors for the consensus measure of antisocial functioning. Predictive accuracy and efficacy estimates are discussed in terms of predictive strength as well as the cost–benefit of misidentification.