Resting autonomic nervous system activity is unrelated to antisocial behaviour dimensions in adolescents:: Cross-sectional findings from a European multi-centre study

Martin Prätzlich; Helena Oldenhof; Martin Steppan; Katharina Ackermann; Rosalind Baker; Molly Batchelor; Sarah Baumann; Anka Bernhard; Roberta Clanton; Dimitris Dikeos; Roberta Dochnal; Lynn Valérie Fehlbaum; Aranzazu Fernández-Rivas; Maider González de Artaza-Lavesa; Karen Gonzalez-Madruga; Silvina Guijarro; Malou Gundlach; Beate Herpertz-Dahlmann; Amaia Hervas; Lucres Jansen; Iñaki Kerexeta-Lizeaga; Linda Kersten; Marietta Kirchner; Gregor Kohls; Angeliki Konsta; Helen Lazaratou; Anne Martinelli; Willeke Martine Menks; Ignazio Puzzo; Nora Maria Raschle; Jack Rogers; Réka Siklósi; Areti Smaragdi; Noortje Vriends; Kerstin Konrad; Stephane De Brito; Graeme Fairchild; Meinhard Kieser; Christine M. Freitag; Arne Popma; Christina Stadler

doi:10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2018.01.004

Resting autonomic nervous system activity is unrelated to antisocial behaviour dimensions in adolescents: Cross-sectional findings from a European multi-centre study

Martin Prätzlich^*, Helena Oldenhof, Martin Steppan, Katharina Ackermann, Rosalind Baker, Molly Batchelor, Sarah Baumann, Anka Bernhard, Roberta Clanton, Dimitris Dikeos, Roberta Dochnal, Lynn Valérie Fehlbaum, Aranzazu Fernández-Rivas, Maider González de Artaza-Lavesa, Karen Gonzalez-Madruga, Silvina Guijarro, Malou Gundlach, Beate Herpertz-Dahlmann, Amaia Hervas, Lucres JansenIñaki Kerexeta-Lizeaga, Linda Kersten, Marietta Kirchner, Gregor Kohls, Angeliki Konsta, Helen Lazaratou, Anne Martinelli, Willeke Martine Menks, Ignazio Puzzo, Nora Maria Raschle, Jack Rogers, Réka Siklósi, Areti Smaragdi, Noortje Vriends, Kerstin Konrad, Stephane De Brito, Graeme Fairchild, Meinhard Kieser, Christine M. Freitag, Arne Popma, Christina Stadler

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Purpose: Autonomic nervous system (ANS) functioning has long been studied in relation to antisocial behaviour, but relevant measures (heart rate, heart rate variability, pre-ejection period, respiration rate) have rarely been considered together. This study investigated the relationship between these measures and antisocial behaviour.

Methods: Using a sample of 1010 youths with (47.8%) and without conduct disorder (52.2%) aged between 9 and 18. years (659 females, 351 males, mean age = 14.2. years, SD = 2.4), principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to various measures of psychopathology and antisocial behavior. Structural equation modelling was performed in order to test whether the ANS measures predicted PCA-dimensions. Cluster analysis was used in order to classify patterns of ANS activity. Analyses were performed separately for males/females and controlled for body-mass-index, age, caffeine use, cigarette smoking, sports, socioeconomic status, medication, cardiac problems.

Results: The PCA yielded three components: antisocial behaviour/comorbid psychopathology, narcissistic traits, and callous-unemotional traits. ANS measures were only weakly correlated with these components. Cluster analysis yielded high and low arousal clusters in both sexes. When controlling for covariates, all associations disappeared.

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that resting ANS measures are only weakly related to antisocial behaviour and indicate that smoking should be considered as an important covariate in future psychophysiological studies.

Original language	English
Journal	Journal of Criminal Justice
Early online date	19 Jan 2018
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2018.01.004
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 19 Jan 2018

Keywords

Antisocial behaviour
Autonomic nervous system
Callous-unemotional traits
Cluster analysis
Sex
Smoking

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Social Psychology
Applied Psychology
Sociology and Political Science
Law

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10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2018.01.004Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047235218300023Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)

Cite this

Prätzlich, M., Oldenhof, H., Steppan, M., Ackermann, K., Baker, R., Batchelor, M., Baumann, S., Bernhard, A., Clanton, R., Dikeos, D., Dochnal, R., Fehlbaum, L. V., Fernández-Rivas, A., González de Artaza-Lavesa, M., Gonzalez-Madruga, K., Guijarro, S., Gundlach, M., Herpertz-Dahlmann, B., Hervas, A., ... Stadler, C. (2018). Resting autonomic nervous system activity is unrelated to antisocial behaviour dimensions in adolescents: Cross-sectional findings from a European multi-centre study. Journal of Criminal Justice. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2018.01.004

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title = "Resting autonomic nervous system activity is unrelated to antisocial behaviour dimensions in adolescents:: Cross-sectional findings from a European multi-centre study",

abstract = "Purpose: Autonomic nervous system (ANS) functioning has long been studied in relation to antisocial behaviour, but relevant measures (heart rate, heart rate variability, pre-ejection period, respiration rate) have rarely been considered together. This study investigated the relationship between these measures and antisocial behaviour. Methods: Using a sample of 1010 youths with (47.8%) and without conduct disorder (52.2%) aged between 9 and 18. years (659 females, 351 males, mean age = 14.2. years, SD = 2.4), principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to various measures of psychopathology and antisocial behavior. Structural equation modelling was performed in order to test whether the ANS measures predicted PCA-dimensions. Cluster analysis was used in order to classify patterns of ANS activity. Analyses were performed separately for males/females and controlled for body-mass-index, age, caffeine use, cigarette smoking, sports, socioeconomic status, medication, cardiac problems. Results: The PCA yielded three components: antisocial behaviour/comorbid psychopathology, narcissistic traits, and callous-unemotional traits. ANS measures were only weakly correlated with these components. Cluster analysis yielded high and low arousal clusters in both sexes. When controlling for covariates, all associations disappeared. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that resting ANS measures are only weakly related to antisocial behaviour and indicate that smoking should be considered as an important covariate in future psychophysiological studies.",

keywords = "Antisocial behaviour, Autonomic nervous system, Callous-unemotional traits, Cluster analysis, Sex, Smoking",

author = "Martin Pr{\"a}tzlich and Helena Oldenhof and Martin Steppan and Katharina Ackermann and Rosalind Baker and Molly Batchelor and Sarah Baumann and Anka Bernhard and Roberta Clanton and Dimitris Dikeos and Roberta Dochnal and Fehlbaum, {Lynn Val{\'e}rie} and Aranzazu Fern{\'a}ndez-Rivas and {Gonz{\'a}lez de Artaza-Lavesa}, Maider and Karen Gonzalez-Madruga and Silvina Guijarro and Malou Gundlach and Beate Herpertz-Dahlmann and Amaia Hervas and Lucres Jansen and I{\~n}aki Kerexeta-Lizeaga and Linda Kersten and Marietta Kirchner and Gregor Kohls and Angeliki Konsta and Helen Lazaratou and Anne Martinelli and Menks, {Willeke Martine} and Ignazio Puzzo and Raschle, {Nora Maria} and Jack Rogers and R{\'e}ka Sikl{\'o}si and Areti Smaragdi and Noortje Vriends and Kerstin Konrad and {De Brito}, Stephane and Graeme Fairchild and Meinhard Kieser and Freitag, {Christine M.} and Arne Popma and Christina Stadler",

year = "2018",

month = jan,

day = "19",

doi = "10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2018.01.004",

language = "English",

journal = "Journal of Criminal Justice",

issn = "0047-2352",

publisher = "Elsevier",

}

Prätzlich, M, Oldenhof, H, Steppan, M, Ackermann, K, Baker, R, Batchelor, M, Baumann, S, Bernhard, A, Clanton, R, Dikeos, D, Dochnal, R, Fehlbaum, LV, Fernández-Rivas, A, González de Artaza-Lavesa, M, Gonzalez-Madruga, K, Guijarro, S, Gundlach, M, Herpertz-Dahlmann, B, Hervas, A, Jansen, L, Kerexeta-Lizeaga, I, Kersten, L, Kirchner, M, Kohls, G, Konsta, A, Lazaratou, H, Martinelli, A, Menks, WM, Puzzo, I, Raschle, NM, Rogers, J, Siklósi, R, Smaragdi, A, Vriends, N, Konrad, K, De Brito, S, Fairchild, G, Kieser, M, Freitag, CM, Popma, A & Stadler, C 2018, 'Resting autonomic nervous system activity is unrelated to antisocial behaviour dimensions in adolescents: Cross-sectional findings from a European multi-centre study', Journal of Criminal Justice. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2018.01.004

TY - JOUR

T1 - Resting autonomic nervous system activity is unrelated to antisocial behaviour dimensions in adolescents:

T2 - Cross-sectional findings from a European multi-centre study

AU - Prätzlich, Martin

AU - Oldenhof, Helena

AU - Steppan, Martin

AU - Ackermann, Katharina

AU - Baker, Rosalind

AU - Batchelor, Molly

AU - Baumann, Sarah

AU - Bernhard, Anka

AU - Clanton, Roberta

AU - Dikeos, Dimitris

AU - Dochnal, Roberta

AU - Fehlbaum, Lynn Valérie

AU - Fernández-Rivas, Aranzazu

AU - González de Artaza-Lavesa, Maider

AU - Gonzalez-Madruga, Karen

AU - Guijarro, Silvina

AU - Gundlach, Malou

AU - Herpertz-Dahlmann, Beate

AU - Hervas, Amaia

AU - Jansen, Lucres

AU - Kerexeta-Lizeaga, Iñaki

AU - Kersten, Linda

AU - Kirchner, Marietta

AU - Kohls, Gregor

AU - Konsta, Angeliki

AU - Lazaratou, Helen

AU - Martinelli, Anne

AU - Menks, Willeke Martine

AU - Puzzo, Ignazio

AU - Raschle, Nora Maria

AU - Rogers, Jack

AU - Siklósi, Réka

AU - Smaragdi, Areti

AU - Vriends, Noortje

AU - Konrad, Kerstin

AU - De Brito, Stephane

AU - Fairchild, Graeme

AU - Kieser, Meinhard

AU - Freitag, Christine M.

AU - Popma, Arne

AU - Stadler, Christina

PY - 2018/1/19

Y1 - 2018/1/19

N2 - Purpose: Autonomic nervous system (ANS) functioning has long been studied in relation to antisocial behaviour, but relevant measures (heart rate, heart rate variability, pre-ejection period, respiration rate) have rarely been considered together. This study investigated the relationship between these measures and antisocial behaviour. Methods: Using a sample of 1010 youths with (47.8%) and without conduct disorder (52.2%) aged between 9 and 18. years (659 females, 351 males, mean age = 14.2. years, SD = 2.4), principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to various measures of psychopathology and antisocial behavior. Structural equation modelling was performed in order to test whether the ANS measures predicted PCA-dimensions. Cluster analysis was used in order to classify patterns of ANS activity. Analyses were performed separately for males/females and controlled for body-mass-index, age, caffeine use, cigarette smoking, sports, socioeconomic status, medication, cardiac problems. Results: The PCA yielded three components: antisocial behaviour/comorbid psychopathology, narcissistic traits, and callous-unemotional traits. ANS measures were only weakly correlated with these components. Cluster analysis yielded high and low arousal clusters in both sexes. When controlling for covariates, all associations disappeared. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that resting ANS measures are only weakly related to antisocial behaviour and indicate that smoking should be considered as an important covariate in future psychophysiological studies.

AB - Purpose: Autonomic nervous system (ANS) functioning has long been studied in relation to antisocial behaviour, but relevant measures (heart rate, heart rate variability, pre-ejection period, respiration rate) have rarely been considered together. This study investigated the relationship between these measures and antisocial behaviour. Methods: Using a sample of 1010 youths with (47.8%) and without conduct disorder (52.2%) aged between 9 and 18. years (659 females, 351 males, mean age = 14.2. years, SD = 2.4), principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to various measures of psychopathology and antisocial behavior. Structural equation modelling was performed in order to test whether the ANS measures predicted PCA-dimensions. Cluster analysis was used in order to classify patterns of ANS activity. Analyses were performed separately for males/females and controlled for body-mass-index, age, caffeine use, cigarette smoking, sports, socioeconomic status, medication, cardiac problems. Results: The PCA yielded three components: antisocial behaviour/comorbid psychopathology, narcissistic traits, and callous-unemotional traits. ANS measures were only weakly correlated with these components. Cluster analysis yielded high and low arousal clusters in both sexes. When controlling for covariates, all associations disappeared. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that resting ANS measures are only weakly related to antisocial behaviour and indicate that smoking should be considered as an important covariate in future psychophysiological studies.

KW - Antisocial behaviour

KW - Autonomic nervous system

KW - Callous-unemotional traits

KW - Cluster analysis

KW - Sex

KW - Smoking

U2 - 10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2018.01.004

DO - 10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2018.01.004

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85040549115

SN - 0047-2352

JO - Journal of Criminal Justice

JF - Journal of Criminal Justice

ER -