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EEG Correlates of Emotional Problems and Conduct Disorder in Schoolchildren

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Abstract

The relationships between EEG and the teachers' and parents' ratings of conduct disorder and emotional problems were studied in 20 schoolchildren between the ages of 9 to 13 years. For the assessment of behavioral and emotional problems, we used the Rutter questionnaire for teachers and the Achenbach questionnaire for parents. The intelligence was determined with the Wechsler test. The electroencephalogram was recorded at rest with eyes open and closed, from 16 derivations, using the international 10–20 system. Correlation analysis, controlling the effects of age and sex, and stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed a positive relationship between the θ1 relative spectral power and parental ratings of delinquent behavior and teachers' ratings of hyperactivity and conduct disorder. The relative spectral power of the γ band positively correlated with the intelligence and negatively, with the teachers' ratings of conduct disorder and hyperactivity. Children with high parental ratings of anxiety and depression and low teachers' ratings of hyperactivity had higher spectral power of the α band in the left occipital region than in the right region. The average difference between the spectral power of the α band in the derivations P 3 and P 4 with eyes open and closed correlated negatively with the parents' ratings of attention deficit. The discussion of the results involves the relationship between impulsiveness and arousal and the role of the right hemisphere in the generation of emotions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Physiology, Siberian Division of the, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, ul. Timakova 4, Novosibirsk, 630117, Russia

    G. G. Knyazev, H. R. Slobodskaya, L. I. Aftanas & N. N. Savina

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  1. G. G. Knyazev
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  2. H. R. Slobodskaya
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  3. L. I. Aftanas
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  4. N. N. Savina
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Knyazev, G.G., Slobodskaya, H.R., Aftanas, L.I. et al. EEG Correlates of Emotional Problems and Conduct Disorder in Schoolchildren. Human Physiology 28, 263–268 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015592315882

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