![]() ![]() Physiologic hyporeactivity during stress could reflect a latent trait that increases vulnerability to CD, whereas age of CD onset may be moderated by psychosocial factors (e.g., differences in parental supervision, exposure to antisocial models). Our findings of blunted cortisol and cardiovascular responses to stress in AO-CD and EO-CD participants relative to control subjects contradicts the developmental taxonomic theory, which implies that such neurobiological differences should be unique to EO-CD. So what does it all mean? As the authors explain: Heart rate levels did not differ significantly at baseline, but cardiovascular responses to stress were markedly attenuated in both CD subgroups relative to control subjects. Mean ( +SEM) heart rate, expressed in beats per minute (BPM), across the 10 tasks that formed the psychosocial stressor. Similar results were observed for heart rate:įigure 4 ( Fairchild et al., 2008 ). The dashed line and open diamond symbols show data from 12 control subjects that were not exposed to stress for comparison purposes. The dashed arrow shows onset of the psychosocial stressor, and all times are shown relative to stressor onset. Under stressful conditions, the elevation in cortisol levels between baseline (-5 min) and +35 min in control subjects was markedly reduced in participants from both CD subgroups. Mean ( +SEM) salivary cortisol levels at seven time points during psychosocial stress. In contrast, the boys with CD showed a drop in cortisol levels during the stressful game, as opposed to the elevated cortisol levels exhibited by the boys without CD (shown below).įigure 2 ( Fairchild et al., 2008 ). What were the results? Briefly, the basal levels of cortisol in the CD group were slightly elevated at the evening time point, when the diurnal rhythm of cortisol is typically at a low point. At the end of the session (between 3 and 4 pm), participants were told they had won the competition. Finally, they watched their opponent play the MPT and could remotely disrupt the opponent's performance. Following these tasks, participants completed further challenging cognitive tasks aimed at increasing performance uncertainty. By design, all participants failed to achieve their target score and received negative evaluations of their performance from the opponent. Frustration was induced by having the participant perform a difficult, computer-based manual precision task (MPT) under time pressure while the video opponent and experimenter watched. The competition began between 1 and 2 pm with a task involving confrontation, the Prisoner's Dilemma Game (PDG), in which the opponent always failed to cooperate and sent antagonistic messages. involves inducing frustration and provocation between the participant and a prerecorded video opponent. Psychosocial stress was induced by subjecting the boys to the frustrating experience of playing a game against a hostile opponent, and by providing them with ample negative feedback. We investigated whether this hypothetical distinction between CD subtypes would extend to differences in patterns of cortisol secretion or cardiovascular activity under basal conditions or during stress.The basal samples were collected at 4 different times during the day over the course of 3 days. In contrast, AO-CD is considered to arise primarily because of social modeling of deviant peers. It has been suggested that individuals with EO-CD show neuropsychological impairments. Within the CD group, 42 received an early-onset (EO-CD) diagnosis and 28 received an adolescence-onset (AO-CD) diagnosis. (2008) examined the cortisol levels in 70 adolescent boys with conduct disorder (CD) and 95 boys without CD. Researchers found that levels of cortisol fell when delinquent boys played a stressful video game, the opposite of what was seen in control volunteers playing the same game.Ī new paper by Fairchild et al. The work suggests that the hormone may restrain aggression in stressful situations. The "stress hormone" cortisol – or low levels of it – may be responsible for male aggressive antisocial behaviour, according to new research. ![]() Out-of-control boys facing spells in detention or anti-social behaviour orders can now blame it all on their hormones. When they come for you NewScientist suggests that an increase in cortisol might be warranted.īad boys can blame behaviour on their hormones ![]()
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