title: Cortisol levels and conduct disorder in adolescent mothers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the association between cortisol levels and conduct disorder (CD) in adolescent mothers. Past research has shown that low levels of cortisol were associated with CD, particularly with its aggressive symptoms. The authors tested the hypothesis that adolescent mothers with CD would show lower levels of salivary cortisol compared to mothers without CD at 4 and 9 months postpartum.
  
  
  METHODS
  Midmorning salivary cortisol levels were measured in 228 adolescent mothers (age at delivery 16.9 +/- 1 years [mean +/- SD]) during a laboratory visit at 4 and 9 months postpartum. CD was diagnosed during pregnancy according to the CD subsection on the criteria for antisocial personality disorder (DSM-III-R).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results did not confirm the hypothesis. Lower cortisol levels were not significantly associated with a CD diagnosis, the number of CD symptoms, or aggressive symptoms.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite valid measures and strong statistical power, this study failed to find an association between cortisol levels and CD in a sample of adolescent mothers. The results may have been influenced by the fact that participants were 4 and 9 months postpartum and by comparisons of mothers with CD to mothers living in stressful circumstances.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Montreal and Research Institute for the Social Development of Youth-RISD, Canada. rima.azar@umontreal.ca
authors.forename: Rima
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Azar
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zoccolillo
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Paquette
authors.forename: Elsa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Quiros
authors.forename: Franziska
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Baltzer
authors.forename: Richard E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Tremblay
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D019955:Conduct Disorder / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000378:metabolism*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D011792:Quebec
chemical_list: D006854:Hydrocortisone