1. Baseline autonomic nervous system activity in female children and adolescents with conduct disorder: Psychophysiological findings from the FemNAT-CD study
- Author
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Beate Herpertz-Dahlmann, Lucres M. C. Jansen, Arne Popma, Maider González de Artaza-Lavesa, Eco J. C. de Geus, Helen Lazaratou, Martin Steppan, Gregor Kohls, Helena Oldenhof, Martin Prätzlich, Anka Bernhard, Areti Smaragdi, Christine M. Freitag, Stephane A. De Brito, Réka Siklósi, Roberta Dochnal, Anne Martinelli, Sarah Baumann, Christina Stadler, Linda Kersten, Ignazio Puzzo, Meinhard Kieser, Katharina Ackermann, Malou Gundlach, Angeliki Konsta, Karen Gonzalez, Tisse van Nimwegen, Molly Batchelor, Amaia Hervás, Rosalind Baker, Dimitris Dikeos, Nora Maria Raschle, Kerstin Konrad, Graeme Fairchild, Roberta Clanton, Lynn Valérie Fehlbaum, Aranzazu Fernandez-Rivas, Silvina Guijarro, Jack C. Rogers, Iñaki Kerexeta-Lizeaga, ARD - Amsterdam Reproduction and Development, Biological Psychology, APH - Personalized Medicine, APH - Mental Health, Pediatric surgery, Amsterdam Reproduction & Development (AR&D), Amsterdam Neuroscience - Compulsivity, Impulsivity & Attention, University of Zurich, and Oldenhof, Helena
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Sociology and Political Science ,Social Psychology ,Physiology ,3202 Applied Psychology ,Conduct disorder ,SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being ,3312 Sociology and Political Science ,Heart rate ,Sex differences ,medicine ,Heart rate variability ,Autonomic nervous system ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Applied Psychology ,3207 Social Psychology ,10093 Institute of Psychology ,business.industry ,Emotion regulation ,050901 criminology ,05 social sciences ,Sympathetic activity ,3308 Law ,medicine.disease ,Comorbidity ,Psychophysiology ,0509 other social sciences ,150 Psychology ,business ,Law ,10190 Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development ,050104 developmental & child psychology - Abstract
Purpose: Autonomic nervous system (ANS) functioning has been widely studied in relation to antisocial behavior, such as Conduct Disorder (CD). However, research in females is scarce and findings are inconsistent. This study investigated baseline ANS activity in CD children and adolescents and tested for sex differences. Furthermore, subgroups of CD were investigated: +/‐ Limited Prosocial Emotions (LPE), +/‐ comorbid internalizing disorders (INT). Methods: Baseline ANS activity was measured by Heart Rate (HR), Heart Rate Variability (HRV; parasympathetic activity), Pre-Ejection Period (PEP; sympathetic activity), and Respiration Rate (RR). 659 females (296 CD, 363 controls) and 351 males (187 CD, 164 controls), aged 9–18 years participated. Results: Baseline HR, HRV and PEP did not differ between CD subjects and controls in both sexes. RR was higher in CD participants than controls amongst females, but not males. LPE was unrelated to ANS activity, whereas females with CD + INT presented lower HRV. Conclusions: These results suggest that baseline ANS activity is not a robust indicator for CD. However, deviant ANS activity – especially parasympathetic activity - was observed in CD females with internalizing comorbidity. The psychophysiological abnormalities observed in this subgroup are indicative of emotion regulation problems. Accordingly, this subgroup may require specific interventions.
- Published
- 2019
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