Response to emotional stimuli in boys with conduct disorder.

OBJECTIVE: Boys with conduct disorder are at risk of persistently showing antisocial behavior in adult life, particularly if they have an additional diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In the search for biological risk factors that predispose children to the development of antisocial personality disorder, research has provided substantial data suggesting that autonomic hyporesponsiveness indicates a greater likelihood of future antisocial behavior. The purpose of this study was to examine autonomic arousal in boys with conduct disorder, comorbid conduct disorder and ADHD, and ADHD only.

METHOD: In addition to self-ratings, electrodermal responses to pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant slides were obtained for 21 boys with conduct disorder and 54 boys with ADHD plus conduct disorder. Forty-three boys with a diagnosis of ADHD only were recruited as a clinical comparison group, and 43 boys with no conduct disorder or ADHD were included as a healthy comparison group. All subjects were ages 8-13 years.

RESULTS: Compared to the healthy subjects and the subjects with ADHD only, the boys with conduct disorder and with ADHD plus conduct disorder reported lower levels of emotional response to aversive stimuli and lower autonomic responses to all slides independent of valence.

CONCLUSIONS: Although the self-report data supported a deficit in reactivity to explicit fear cues, the psychophysiological data indicated that boys with conduct disorder both with and without a comorbid condition of ADHD are characterized by a generalized deficit in autonomic responsivity in an experimental situation in which children were exposed to complex visual stimuli of unpredictable affective quality. Psychophysiological findings may point to a deficit in associative information processing systems that normally produce adaptive cognitive-emotional reactions.