Social Adversity and Antisocial Behavior: Mediating Effects of Autonomic Nervous System Activity

Abstract

The display of antisocial behaviors in children and adolescents has been of interest to criminologists and developmental psychologists for years. Exposure to social adversity is a well-documented predictor of antisocial behavior. Additionally, measures of autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity, including heart rate variability (HRV), pre-ejection period (PEP), and heart rate, have been associated with antisocial behaviors including rule-breaking and aggression. Social neuroscience research has begun to investigate how neurobiological underpinnings affect the relationship between social adversity and antisocial/psychopathic behavior in children and adolescents. This study investigated the potential mediating effects of ANS activity on the relationship between social adversity and antisocial behavior in a group of 7- to 10-year-old children from the community (N = 339; 48.2% male). Moderated multiple mediation analyses revealed that low resting heart rate, but not PEP or HRV, mediated the relationship between social adversity and antisocial behavior in males only. Social adversity but not ANS measures were associated with antisocial behavior in females. Findings have implications for understanding the neural influences that underlie antisocial behavior, illustrate the importance of the social environment regarding the expression of these behaviors, and highlight essential gender differences.

Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia Activity Predicts Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviors in Non-referred Boys

“…This again could be a function of a poor translation of current aggression measures to female aggressive behavior. Regardless, additional studies looking at measures of autonomic activity such as heart rate and skin conductance level similarly saw no relationship between behavior problems and physiological responding in girls ( Isen et al, 2010 ; Fagan et al, 2017 ). Some posit that social and environmental influences are stronger, if not dominant, in predicting female externalizing behaviors, and that there could be sex-specific genetic effects driving the development of these behaviors ( Beauchaine et al, 2008 ).…”

“…Exclusion criteria for participation included children diagnosed with psychiatric disorder, intellectual disability, or a pervasive developmental disorder. A detailed description of the study can be found elsewhere ( Gao et al, 2015 , 2016 ; Fagan et al, 2017 ).…”

Assessment of Heart Rate Variability in Adolescents with Different Levels of Personal Anxiety in Physical and Mental Tests

“…Functional failure of the sympathetic part of the ANS is accompanied by a compensatory increase in the activity of the parasympathetic department of the ANS. HRV may be more than just an index of healthy heart function and may in fact serve as an easily measured output of the brain's integrative system for adaptive regulation (Thayer et al, 2012, Fagan et al, 2017.…”

“…One widely used measure of autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity is the beat-to-beat variations in cardiac rhythm as indexed by heart rate variability, which is currently one of the most widespread methods for the quick assessment of the functional state of different autonomic regulation elements and hence the whole body (Fagundes et al, 2011, Jarczok et al, 2013, Voltas et al, 2016. HRV has been independently associated with morbidity and mortality, especially in relation to cardiovascular disease (Jarczok et al, 2013, fatigue (Fagundes et al, 2011), work stress (Loerbroks et al, 2010), and psychological status (Fagan et al, 2017, Dzhebrailova & Suleymanova, 2012, Koenig et al, 2018. Psychological stress is thought to be a dominant factor in the lives of many people.…”

The Impact of Callous-Unemotional Traits and Externalizing Tendencies on Neural Responsivity to Reward and Punishment in Healthy Adolescents

“…We predicted that there would be a great amount of overlap between externalizing behavior and CU traits in explaining brain activation. Finally, since prior research has implicated low IQ and high social adversity in antisocial behavior (e.g., Moffitt et al, 1981;Fagan et al, 2017), we included measures of IQ and social adversity as covariates. Sex and pubertal status were also included as covariates given that sex differences in the structural and functional abnormality have been found in antisocial populations (e.g., Raine et al, 2011;Visser et al, 2013) and an increasing number of studies have illustrated the effects of puberty on brain structure (Urošević et al, 2014;Herting and Sowell, 2017).…”