Abstract
Rationale
Child abuse and neglect are universal risk factors for delinquency, violence, and aggression; this phenomenon is known as the cycle of violence. Additional factors—psychopathy, impulsiveness, and disruptions in the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis—play a role in aggressive behavior but have rarely been examined in the same conceptual and experimental framework.
Objectives
We sought to examine the above-mentioned risk factors for aggression in a prospective study employing psychopharmacologic and psychometric techniques....
Results
Using multiple regression, a model including abuse/neglect, psychopathy, impulsivity, and baseline cortisol explained 58 % of the variance in trait aggression and 26 % of the variance in state aggression. Abuse/neglect predicted diminished HPA-axis reactivity and HPA-axis reactivity showed a trend toward predicting state and trait aggression, although it was not a significant mediating variable between abuse/neglect and aggression.
Conclusions
The results indicate that child maltreatment, psychopathy and HPA-axis reactivity interact to provide a confluence over aggressive behavior, and intervention efforts need to consider all these factors.
http://rd.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00213-013-2992-1
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Gowin, et al. Psychopharmacology, February 2013
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