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Negative association between plasma cortisol levels and aggression in a high-risk community sample of adolescents

Journal of Neural Transmission volume 117, pages 621–627 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

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.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by grants from the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Federal Ministry for Education and Research as part of the ‘Baden–Wuerttemberg Consortium for Addiction Research’ and the ‘National Genome Research Network’. We thank all families who participated in the study; Sibylle Heinzel and Elisabeth Reichert for invaluable help in conducting the study and in the recruitment of participants.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, J 5, 68159, Mannheim, Germany

    Luise Poustka, Erika Hohm, Martin Holtmann, Tobias Banaschewski, Martin H. Schmidt & Manfred Laucht

  2. RMPI Academy, RMPI Foundation, Barendrecht, The Netherlands

    Athanasios Maras

  3. Health Centre for the Deaf, Hospital St. John of God, Linz, Austria

    Johannes Fellinger

  4. Institute of Pharmacology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

    Sabina Lewicka

  5. Department of Psychology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany

    Günter Esser & Manfred Laucht

Authors
  1. Luise Poustka
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  2. Athanasios Maras
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  3. Erika Hohm
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  4. Johannes Fellinger
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  5. Martin Holtmann
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  6. Tobias Banaschewski
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  7. Sabina Lewicka
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  8. Martin H. Schmidt
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  9. Günter Esser
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  10. Manfred Laucht
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Manfred Laucht.

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Poustka, L., Maras, A., Hohm, E. et al. Negative association between plasma cortisol levels and aggression in a high-risk community sample of adolescents. J Neural Transm 117, 621–627 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-010-0386-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-010-0386-7

Keywords

  • Aggression
  • Plasma cortisol
  • Adolescence
  • High-risk sample