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Relations to Neurocognitive Performance

Edward D. Barker, PhD; Jean R. Séguin, PhD; Helene Raskin White, PhD; Marsha E. Bates, PhD; Éric Lacourse, PhD; René Carbonneau, PhD; Richard E. Tremblay, PhD

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2007;64(5):592-599.

Context  Neurocognitive mechanisms have long been hypothesized to influence developmental trajectories of antisocial behavior. However, studies examining this association tend to aggregate a variety of problem behaviors that may be differently affected by neurocognitive deficits.

Objective  To describe the developmental trajectories of physical violence and theft from adolescence to adulthood, their associations, and the neurocognitive characteristics of individuals following different patterns of trajectory association.

Design  Accelerated cohort-sequential, longitudinal design.

Setting  Rutgers Health and Human Development Project.

Participants  Six hundred ninety-eight men.

Main Outcome Measures  Self-reports of physical violence (ages 12-24 years) and theft (ages 12-31 years) were collected across 5 waves. Neurocognitive performance was assessed with executive function and verbal IQ tests between late adolescence and early adulthood.

Results  The majority (55%) of subjects showed an increased frequency of theft during the study period, while only a minority (13%) evinced an increasing frequency of physical violence. Executive function and verbal IQ performance were negatively related to high frequency of physical violence but positively related to high frequency of theft.

Conclusions  Developmental trajectories of physical violence and theft during adolescence and early adulthood are different and differently related to neurocognitive functioning. Global indexes of antisocial behavior mask the development of antisocial behavior subtypes and putative causal mechanisms.

Author Affiliations: Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Maladjustment, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec (Drs Barker, Séguin, Lacourse, Carbonneau, and Tremblay); and Center of Alcohol Studies, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ (Drs Raskin White and Bates). Dr Barker is now at King's College London Institute of Psychiatry, MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatric Centre, London, England.

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