title: Association of regional gray matter volumes in the brain with disruptive behavior disorders in male and female children.
abstract: Because the disruptive behavior disorders are highly impairing conditions, it is important to determine if structural variations in brain are associated early in life with these problems among children. Structural MRI data were acquired from 111 9-11 year olds (58 girls and 53 boys), 43 who met diagnostic criteria for oppositional defiant disorder and/or conduct disorder and 68 healthy controls. Voxel-based morphometry was used to examine associations of behavioral measures with gray matter volumes in whole-brain analyses. Unlike previous studies, variation in gray matter volume was not found to be associated with a disruptive behavior disorder diagnosis in any brain region at p < .05 with FWE correction. Nonetheless, an inverse nonlinear association of the number of conduct disorder (CD) symptoms with gray matter volume along the left superior temporal sulcus was significant in the full sample (p < .05 with FWE correction), with a trend in the right hemisphere (p < 0.001 uncorrected). There also was a trend toward a stronger association of the number of CD symptoms with gray matter volume along the left superior temporal sulcus in girls than boys. The present findings did not replicate previous findings of reduced gray matter volumes in the anterior insula, amygdala, and frontal cortex in youth with CD, but are consistent with previous findings of reduced gray matter volumes in temporal regions, particularly in girls.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Kalina J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Michalska
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA ; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Decety
authors.affiliation: Neural Systems Group, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Zeffiro
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Benjamin B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Lahey
mesh_terms: D019958:Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders / Q000473:pathology*; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male
keywords: Childhood-onset conduct disorder; Gray matter; Superior temporal sulcus; Voxel-based morphometry