Gao Yu, Huang Yonglin, Li Xiaobo
Department of Psychology, Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, Brooklyn, NY.
Department of Psychology, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, Brooklyn, NY.
J Psychopathol Behav Assess. 2017 Mar;39(1):1-14. doi: 10.1007/s10862-016-9556-8. Epub 2016 Jul 11.
Evidence has suggested that neurobiological deficits combine with psychosocial risk factors to impact on the development of antisocial behavior. The current study concentrated on the interplay of prenatal maternal stress and autonomic arousal in predicting antisocial behavior and psychopathic traits.
Prenatal maternal stress was assessed by caregiver's retrospective report, and resting heart rate and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) were measured in 295 8- to 10-year-old children. Child and caregiver also reported on child's antisocial behavior and psychopathic traits.
Higher prenatal maternal stress was associated with higher caregiver-reported antisocial and psychopathy scores, even after the concurrent measure of social adversity was controlled for. As expected, low heart rate and high RSA were associated with high antisocial and psychopathic traits. More importantly, significant interaction effects were found; prenatal stress was positively associated with multiple dimensions of psychopathic traits only on the conditions of low arousal (e.g., low heart rate or high RSA).
Findings provide further support for a biosocial perspective of antisocial and psychopathic traits, and illustrate the importance of integrating biological with psychosocial measures to fully understand the etiology of behavioral problems.
有证据表明，神经生物学缺陷与心理社会风险因素共同作用，影响反社会行为的发展。当前研究聚焦于产前母亲压力与自主神经唤醒在预测反社会行为和精神病态特质方面的相互作用。
通过照顾者的回顾性报告评估产前母亲压力，并对295名8至10岁儿童测量静息心率和呼吸性窦性心律不齐（RSA）。儿童及其照顾者还报告了儿童的反社会行为和精神病态特质。
即使在控制了社会逆境的同时测量因素后，产前母亲压力较高仍与照顾者报告的较高反社会和精神病态得分相关。正如预期的那样，低心率和高RSA与高反社会和精神病态特质相关。更重要的是，发现了显著的交互作用；仅在低唤醒条件下（如低心率或高RSA），产前压力与精神病态特质的多个维度呈正相关。
研究结果为反社会和精神病态特质的生物社会视角提供了进一步支持，并说明了整合生物学与心理社会测量方法以全面理解行为问题病因的重要性。
