Risk Factors for Antisocial Behavior

描述(申请人提供)：与情绪有关的过程在攻击性和反社会行为的发展中起着重要作用。目前尚不清楚的是，这些与情绪有关的过程或它们与反社会行为的关系可能在多大程度上是基于遗传或环境的。我们建议在一项正在进行的研究中调查情绪处理和反应的心理生理和行为指标的遗传和环境基础，以及它们与攻击性和反社会行为的关系。作为NIMH资助的这项研究(反社会行为的风险因素；MH 58354)的一部分，我们实施了一项心理生理学和行为评估方案，以了解反社会行为和攻击性发展中与情绪相关的变量。这些包括教师对儿童情绪调节和结果(情绪性和易感性)的评分，以及对情绪处理和反应的全面心理生理学评估：自主神经系统(ANS)测量(包括电皮肤和心血管记录，包括迷走神经张力)、皮层(EEG和ERP)测量，以及惊吓增强的肌电(CG)测量。心理生理学方案中还包括其他任务，以测量电影剪辑过程中的情绪处理(恐惧和悲伤)、对情绪刺激(面孔)的惊吓调制、预期恐惧(使用倒计时程序)以及对尴尬问题的反应。我们还增加了两个在加工过程中利用较少自愿注意的任务-听觉感觉门控(在P50选通任务期间)和听觉感觉辨别(在不匹配否定任务期间)。 有了这项全面的评估，我们能够调查与情绪相关的过程的遗传和环境基础，以及它们与青春期边缘儿童反社会行为的关系。在有计划的后续评估期间，这些变数将继续具有相当重要的意义，从而能够区分几种反社会途径，包括导致暴力和使用药物的途径。需要补充资金，以继续收集、处理和分析这一情绪相关过程和结果的扩大评估的数据。这些新的数据将为研究情绪反应的遗传和环境基础及其与反社会行为的关系提供一个巨大的机会。这些发现将有助于更好地了解人类侵略的根源，最终可能导致治疗和预防这一重要社会问题的更有效途径。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Emotion-related processes play an important role in the development of aggression and antisocial behavior. What is not known is the extent to which these emotion-related processes or their relationship to antisocial behavior may be genetically or environmentally based. We propose to investigate the genetic and environmental bases of psychophysiological and behavior indicators of emotion processing and responding, and their relationships to aggression and antisocial behavior in an ongoing study oft-wins (age 9-10 years). As part of this NIMH-funded investigation (Risk Factors for Antisocial Behavior; MH 58354), we have implemented a psychophysiological and behavioral assessment protocol for understanding emotion-related variables in the development of antisocial behavior and aggression. These involve teacher ratings of children's emotion regulation and outcomes (emotionality and lability), as well as a comprehensive psychophysiological assessment of emotional processing and responding: autonomic nervous system (ANS) measures (both electrodermal and cardiovascular recordings, including vagal tone), electrocortical (EEG and ERP) measures, and electromyographic (ECG) measures of startle potentiation. Additional tasks have been included in the psychophysiological protocol in order to measure emotional processing (fear and sadness) during film clips, startle modulation to emotionally laden stimuli (faces), anticipatory fear (using a countdown procedure), and responses to embarrassing questions. We have also added two tasks that tap less voluntary attentionat processes-auditory sensory gating (during a P50 gating task), and auditory sensory discrimination (during a mismatch negativity task). With this comprehensive assessment we are in a position to investigate the genetic and environmental basis of emotional-related processes and their relationships to antisocial behavior in children on the brink of adolescence. These variables will continue to be of considerable significance during planned follow-up assessments, enabling differentiation among several antisocial pathways, including those leading to violence and substance use. Supplemental funding is requested to continue with data collection, processing, and analysis of this expanded assessment of emotion-related processes and outcomes. These new data will provide a tremendous opportunity to investigate the genetic and environmental bases of emotional responding and its relationship to antisocial behavior. These findings will provide a better understanding of the roots of human aggression, which may ultimately lead to more effective avenues for treatment and prevention of this important social problem.