Journal
JOURNAL OF NEURAL TRANSMISSION
Volume 117, Issue 5, Pages 621-627Publisher
SPRINGER WIEN
DOI: 10.1007/s00702-010-0386-7
Keywords
Aggression; Plasma cortisol; Adolescence; High-risk sample
Categories
Funding
- German Research Foundation (DFG)
- Federal Ministry for Education and Research
- National Genome Research Network
Ask authors/readers for more resources
In this study, the association of aggressive behavior and personality traits with plasma cortisol levels was investigated in a high-risk community sample of adolescents. Plasma cortisol levels were collected in 245 fifteen-year-olds (118 males, 127 females) from an epidemiological cohort study of children at risk for psychopathology. Additionally, measures of reactive and proactive aggression, externalizing behavior and callous-unemotional together with impulsive personality features were assessed. Both subtypes of aggression as well as delinquent behavior and impulsive personality traits showed significant negative correlations with plasma cortisol levels. This association was observed in males, but not in females. In both gender groups, callous-unemotional traits were unrelated to plasma cortisol levels. This result suggests that the association between cortisol levels and aggression in adolescents is mediated rather by impulsivity than by unemotional or psychopathic traits.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available