The role of cortisol and psychopathy in the cycle of violence

摘要

Rationale: Child abuse and neglect are universal risk factors for delinquency, violence, and aggression; this phenomenon is known as the cycle of violence. Additional factors - psychopathy, impulsiveness, and disruptions in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis - play a role in aggressive behavior but have rarely been examined in the same conceptual and experimental framework. Objectives: We sought to examine the above-mentioned risk factors for aggression in a prospective study employing psychopharmacologic and psychometric techniques. Methods: Sixty-seven adult participants were given an acute dose of 20 mg cortisol in a placebo-controlled, within-subject, counter-balanced dosing design. Salivary cortisol was measured at baseline and at regular intervals across a 5 h testing period. Following dosing, state-aggressive behavior was measured by a laboratory task, the Point-Subtraction Aggression Paradigm. History of child abuseeglect, psychopathy, impulsivity, and a trait measure of aggression were assessed through self-report questionnaires. Results: Using multiple regression, a model including abuseeglect, psychopathy, impulsivity, and baseline cortisol explained 58 % of the variance in trait aggression and 26 % of the variance in state aggression. Abuseeglect predicted diminished HPA-axis reactivity and HPA-axis reactivity showed a trend toward predicting state and trait aggression, although it was not a significant mediating variable between abuseeglect and aggression. Conclusions: The results indicate that child maltreatment, psychopathy and HPA-axis reactivity interact to provide a confluence over aggressive behavior, and intervention efforts need to consider all these factors.