Study links conduct disorder to neurological patterns established early in life
Orange County, CA - June 22nd 2016 - It’s no misnomer that the teenage years are a difficult transition for both parents and adolescents. From drug experimentation to dramatically changing appearance, this period of life is a rapid succession of behavioral changes commonly attributed to an influx of hormones. Although this sentiment is popularly accepted justification for inherent teenage moodiness, a recent study suggests that teen angst may be caused by abnormalities in the brain.
Led by Graeme Fairchild, associate professor of psychology at the University of Southampton, the study involved using MRIs to compare development in different regions of the cortex. Researchers studied the thickness of 68 segments of the brain responsible for awareness, perception, attention, memory, and language. The subject pool consisted of 83 male individuals, 58 with conduct disorder diagnoses and a control group of 25 healthy, between 16 and 21 years of age.
Researchers employed a technique developed by Lerch and colleagues coined “mapping anatomical correlations across the cerebral cortex,” a methodology that helped them realize the correlation between conduct disorder and brain thickness. Uniform and even brain development was found in accordance with the behavioral condition, whereas the control group’s neurological maturation exhibited variability in cortical thickness. Regardless of conduct disorder’s onset, be it in one’s childhood or adolescence, the thickness in growth was homogeneous.
“The diffuse pattern of structural covariance abnormalities observed in CD resembles the changes reported in other neurodevelopmental disorders like autism, and suggests that, in common with these disorders, CD may be associated with global disruptions in brain maturation,” wrote Fairchild et. al.
These findings present a deeper understanding to the instigation of teenage rebellion and its prevalence. If not for advanced imaging technology, unequivocal insight to contributing factors of brain developmental patterns would otherwise go unseen. Instead of conceding behavior to hormones, this study inculcates a case for medical intervention when faced with extreme teenage behavioral misconduct.
Moving forward, this type of research will be foundational in the exploration of child brain development, and further illuminating if neurological development is tied to environmental or genetic factors. Additionally, reproducing this study with a female population can provide enriching information to how adolescent brain development differs among the sexes. Furthermore, researchers can build upon these findings to investigate whether a person’s behavioral patterns improve if their brain development normalizes overtime.
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Study links conduct disorder to neurological patterns established early in life Orange County, CA – June 22nd 2016 – It’s no misnomer that the teenage years are a difficult transition for both parents and adolescents. From drug experimentation to dramatically changing appearance, this period of life is a rapid succession of behavioral changes commonly attributed to an […]