Child and Adolescent Violence Research at NIH

need to be defined somewhat differently for the two genders. In contrast to overt aggression, which inflicts harm through physical damage or the threat of such damage more common in boys, social aggression by girls harms through damage to peer relationships; study of this form of aggression may be crucial to understanding the aggressive development of girls. The NIMH is currently funding research on the antecedents and consequences of aggression for girls, as well as for boys, knowledge that can be used to develop empirically-based interventions for aggressive children of both sexes.

Antisocial Behavior Co-Occurring with Child Psychopathology There is strong evidence for the co-occurrence of two or more syndromes or disorders among children with behavioral and emotional problems. Many people think that children either act out or turn their feelings inward, but the truth is more complex. The obviously angry adolescent has other conditions such as anxiety disorders and depression (as seen in the quiet withdrawn young person) more often than would occur by chance. Research in this area indicates that very young children with conduct problems and anxiety disorders or depression display more serious aggression than youths with only conduct problems. It is not entirely clear whether depression precipitates acting out, whether impairments and predispositions for acting out lead to depression, or whether there are underlying causal factors that are responsible for the joint display of such problems.

It is very common for youth with conduct problems to also display symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the most commonly diagnosed behavioral disorder of childhood. The diagnosis is made by the presence of persistent age-inappropriate inattention and impulsivity, often coexisting with hyperactivity. This co-occurrence is often associated with an early onset of aggression and impairment in personal, interpersonal, and family functioning. Furthermore, academic underachievement is common in youth with early onset conduct problems, ADHD, and adolescents who display delinquent behavior.

Individual Liability and Genetic Factors Identifying numerous genes that may play a role in any complex disorder is a formidable task and is only the first step in understanding how a gene or genes affect an individual. Genes act by producing specific proteins that may contribute to a particular biological or behavioral trait. Every human carries between 80,000 and 100,000 genes; the products of these genes S acting together and in combination with the environment B help shape every human characteristic. It has become clear that the genetics of vulnerability to certain

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