Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, J 5, 68159 Mannheim, Germany.
J Neural Transm (Vienna). 2010 May;117(5):621-7. doi: 10.1007/s00702-010-0386-7. Epub 2010 Mar 9.
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.
在这项研究中，我们调查了高危社区青少年群体中攻击行为和人格特质与血浆皮质醇水平的关联。我们从一个有患精神病理学风险的儿童的流行病学队列研究中收集了 245 名 15 岁青少年（118 名男性，127 名女性）的血浆皮质醇水平。此外，我们还评估了反应性和主动性攻击、外化行为和无情-冷漠以及冲动人格特征等指标。两种类型的攻击行为以及犯罪行为和冲动人格特征都与血浆皮质醇水平呈显著负相关。这种关联在男性中观察到，但在女性中没有观察到。在两个性别群体中，无情-冷漠特征与血浆皮质醇水平无关。这一结果表明，青少年皮质醇水平与攻击行为之间的关联更多地是通过冲动性而不是通过无情或精神病特征来介导的。
