title: Sex differences in abnormal white matter development associated with conduct disorder in children.
abstract: Associations between white matter pathway abnormalities and antisocial personality disorder in adults are well replicated, and there is some evidence for an association of white matter abnormalities with conduct disorder (CD) in adolescents. In this study, white matter maturation using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was examined in 110 children aged 10.0 ± 0.8 years selected to vary widely in their numbers of CD symptoms. The results replicated age-related increases in fractional anisotropy (FA) found in previous studies. There was not a significant association between the number of CD symptoms and FA, but CD symptoms were found to be significantly associated with greater axial and radial diffusivity in a broad range of white matter tracts, particularly in girls. In complementary analyses, there were similar significant differences in axial and radial diffusivity between children who met diagnostic criteria for CD and healthy children with no symptoms of CD, particularly in girls. Brain structural abnormalities may contribute to the emergence of CD in childhood, perhaps playing a greater role in girls.
authors.affiliation: Child Neurosuite - Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Chicago Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States. Electronic address: decety@uchicago.edu.
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Decety
authors.affiliation: Child Neurosuite - Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States.
authors.forename: Keith J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Yoder
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Chicago Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States; Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States.
authors.forename: Benjamin B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Lahey
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019955:Conduct Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D012737:Sex Factors; D066127:White Matter / Q000503:physiopathology*
keywords: Conduct disorder; Diffusion tensor imaging; Fractional anisotropy; MRI; White matter