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Background: The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and basal ganglia have been implicated in pathological aggression. This study aimed at identifying neuroanatomical correlates of impulsive aggression in healthy children. Methods: Data from 193 representative 6- to 18-year-old healthy children were obtained from the National Institutes of Health Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study of Normal Brain Development after a blinded quality control. Cortical thickness and subcortical volumes were obtained with automated software. Aggression levels were measured with the Aggressive Behavior scale (AGG) of the Child Behavior Checklist. AGG scores were regressed against cortical thickness and basal ganglia volumes using first- and second-order linear models while controlling for age, gender, scanner site, and total brain volume. Gender by AGG interactions were analyzed. Results: There were positive associations between bilateral striatal volumes and AGG scores (right: r = .238, p = .001; left: r = .188, p = .01). A significant association was found with right ACC and subgenual ACC cortical thickness in a second-order linear model (p < .05, corrected). High AGG scores were associated with a relatively thin right ACC cortex. An AGG by gender interaction trend was found in bilateral OFC and ACC associations with AGG scores. Conclusions: This study shows the existence of relationships between impulsive aggression in healthy children and the structure of the striatum and right ACC. It also suggests the existence of gender-specific patterns of association in OFC/ACC gray matter. These results may guide research on oppositional-defiant and conduct disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: No consensus has been reached yet on how best to characterize children with juvenile bipolar disorder (JBD). Several groups have shown that children on the attention problems (AP), aggressive behavior (AGG), and anxious-depressed (AD) syndromes of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) are likely to meet criteria for DSM-JBD. We aimed to use a large population-based twin sample to evaluate the prevalence and genetic architecture of the CBCL-JBD (deviant on AP, AGG, and AD) phenotype and compare these data to children who are deviant on just the CBCL-AP syndrome. Methods: Structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied to CBCL data from 5418, 3562, and 1971 Dutch twin pairs at ages 7, 10, and 12 years. Results: The CBCL-JBD phenotype occurs in ∼1% of children at each age. Among the children who meet criteria for the CBCL-AP phenotype (∼ 5%), between 13 and 20% also meet criteria for CBCL-JBD. The best SEM for CBCL-JBD includes additive genetic, shared and unique environmental factors. The best SEM for CBCL-AP includes dominant and additive genetic and unique environmental factors. Conclusions: These data suggest that CBCL-JBD is common, and even more common among children who have severe attention problems. CBCL-JBD shows familial aggregation due to both genetic and shared environmental factors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Fronto-amygdalar networks are implicated in childhood psychiatric disorders characterized by high rates of externalizing (aggressive, noncompliant, oppositional) behavior. Although externalizing behaviors are distributed continuously across clinical and nonclinical samples, little is known about how brain variations may confer risk for problematic behavior. Here, we studied cortical thickness, amygdala volume, and cortico-amygdalar network correlates of externalizing behavior in a large sample of healthy children. Methods: Two hundred ninety-seven healthy children (6–18 years; mean = 12 ± 3 years), with 517 magnetic resonance imaging scans, from the National Institutes of Health Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study of Normal Brain Development, were studied. Relationships between externalizing behaviors (measured with the Child Behavior Checklist) and cortical thickness, amygdala volume, and cortico-amygdalar structural networks were examined using first-order linear mixed-effects models, after controlling for age, sex, scanner, and total brain volume. Results significant at p ≤ .05, following multiple comparison correction, are reported. Results: Left orbitofrontal, right retrosplenial cingulate, and medial temporal cortex thickness were negatively correlated with externalizing behaviors. Although amygdala volume alone was not correlated with externalizing behaviors, an orbitofrontal cortex-amygdala network predicted rates of externalizing behavior. Children with lower levels of externalizing behaviors exhibited positive correlations between orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala structure, while these regions were not correlated in children with higher levels of externalizing behavior. Conclusions: Our findings identify key cortical nodes in frontal, cingulate, and temporal cortex associated with externalizing behaviors in children; and indicate that orbitofrontal-amygdala network properties may influence externalizing behaviors, along a continuum and across healthy and clinical samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]