Lowered Testosterone Reactivity Mediates the Effect of Early Intervention on Aggressive Behavior

摘要

We tested the hypotheses that the Fast Track intervention program for high-risk children would reduce adult aggressive behavior and that this effect would be mediated by decreased reactivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis in response to social provocation. Participants were a subsample of males from the full trial sample, who during kindergarten had been randomly assigned to the 10-year Fast Track intervention or to a control group. The Fast Track program attempted to develop children’s social competencies through parental behavior management training to manage their child’s behavior, child social-cognitive and emotional-coping skills training, peer-relations coaching, academic tutoring, and classroom management. At a mean age of 26 years, participants responded to laboratory provocations. Results indicated that, relative to control participants, men assigned to the intervention demonstrated reduced aggression and testosterone reactivity to social provocations. Moreover, reduced testosterone reactivity mediated the effect of intervention on aggressive behavior, which provides evidence for an enduring biological mechanism underlying the effect of early psychosocial intervention on aggressive behavior in adulthood.