Conduct Disorder

THURSDAY, March 13, 2025 -- Some women turn to weed during pregnancy to help deal with common issues like nausea , sleep problem and stress. Unfortunately, they could be endangering their unborn child’s future behavior, a new study says. Women who use cannabis either during pregnancy or after delivery are three times more likely to have kids with disruptive behavioral problems, researchers reported. These kids were more likely to be hostile toward authority figures, act in disobedient ways and behave aggressively toward others, researchers said. Women who used marijuana during pregnancy were three and a half times more likely to report behavioral problems as their child grew, according to results recently published in the journal Psychiatry Research . Using cannabis after a baby’s birth also influenced development, increasing a child’s risk of behavioral disorders nearly threefold, researchers said. “Cannabinoid ingredients can cross the placenta and enter breast milk, potentially affecting brain development,” senior researcher Rosa Alati , head of population health at Curtin University in Australia, said in a news release. “This research provides critical evidence to help shape health policies aimed at minimizing harm.” The findings jibe with earlier studies that have linked weed use during pregnancy with developmental issues. For example, an October 2024 study in JAMA Pediatrics linked cannabis exposure in the womb to poorer thinking skills and behavioral problems like poor impulse control and attention as well as aggressive behavior. For the new study, researchers analyzed records on more than 222,000 pregnancies in New South Wales, Australia, between 2003 and 2005. The team tracked the children of mothers who used cannabis to see if they were diagnosed with behavioral problems at a greater rate than the kids of moms who didn’t use weed. “We found children of mothers with cannabis use disorder were at a significantly higher risk of developing behavioral issues such as oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder,” lead researcher Abay Tadesse , a doctoral student at Curtin University, said in a news release. “Our research showed maternal cannabis use during pregnancy increased the risk of disruptive behavioral disorders by 3.56 times, while postnatal use increased the risk by 2.95 times,” Tadesse said. More research is needed to better understand the link between a mom’s cannabis use and her child’s subsequent behavioral problems, Alati concluded. Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.

FRIDAY, July 26, 2024 -- There are widespread brain structural alterations apparent in conduct disorders, mostly in surface area, according to a study published in the August issue of The Lancet Psychiatry . Yidian Gao, Ph.D., from the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, and colleagues examined brain structural correlates of conduct disorders among those aged 18 years or younger. Individual participant data were collected from 1,185 young people with conduct disorder and 1,253 typically developing young people (mean age, 13.5 years). The researchers found that the conduct disorder group had lower surface area in 26 cortical regions and lower total surface area relative to typically developing young people. Differences were seen in cortical thickness in the caudal anterior cingulate cortex and the banks of the superior temporal sulcus. Smaller amygdala, nucleus accumbens, thalamus, and hippocampus volumes were also seen in the conduct disorder group. After adjustment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder comorbidity or intelligence quotient, most differences remained significant. There were no group-by-sex or group-by-age interactions seen. Between Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders -defined conduct disorder subtypes, few differences were found. However, more widespread differences were seen for individuals with high callous-unemotional traits versus controls than for those with low callous-unemotional traits. "These findings provide further evidence that brain alterations could contribute to conduct disorder," the authors write. "This underrecognized disorder warrants greater consideration in research, including longitudinal studies exploring neurodevelopmental trajectories and additional subtyping approaches." Several authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry. Abstract/Full Text Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.

WEDNESDAY, July 17, 2024 -- Defiance, tantrums, aggression: All signs of a condition called conduct disorder, which Mental Health America says affects up to 16% of boys and 9% of girls. Now, research is revealing real differences in the brain structure of children and youths with conduct disorder, compared to those without the condition. Specifically, the study of the brains of people ages 7 through 21 found that the brain's outer layer, the cerebral cortex, was smaller than is typical for people with conduct disorder. “Conduct disorder has among the highest burden of any mental disorder in youth," noted study co-author Dr. Daniel Pine . "However, it remains understudied and under-treated." "Understanding brain differences associated with the disorder takes us one step closer to developing more effective approaches to diagnosis and treatment, with the ultimate aim of improving long-term outcomes for children and their families," said Pine. He's chief of the Section on Development and Affective Neuroscience at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The new study was published July 16 in the journal Lancet Psychiatry . In their research, Pine and his colleagues used MRI scans to examine the brains of about 2,400 children and youth who'd enrolled in 15 different studies from around the world. About half of the participants had been diagnosed with conduct disorder while the other half had not. The scans looked specifically at the thickness of each person's cerebral cortex, as well as the volume of deeper "subcortical" brain regions. Compared to kids and young adults unaffected by conduct disorder, those with the condition differed in terms of the thickness of their cerebral cortices. They also "had lower volume in several subcortical brain regions, including the amygdala, hippocampus and thalamus," according to a news release from the NIMH. These regions are known to be key to behavioral regulation. In prior studies, the prefrontal cortex and amygdala had already been implicated as playing possible roles in conduct disorder, but the new study has pinpointed other brain regions. No differences in terms of brain changes were noted between girls and boys with conduct disorder. However, young people with more severe forms of conduct disorder -- for example, they had low levels of empathy, remorse or guilt -- tended to display the largest brain differences on MRI, the research team said. According to the authors, the new study is the largest to date and supports the notion that physical changes in the brain might drive conduct disorder. "The study also provides novel evidence that brain changes are more widespread than previously shown, spanning all four lobes and both cortical and subcortical regions," according to the NIMH news release. The good news: The findings could give researchers a new foothold in pursuing the cause and treatment of conduct disorder, the team said. Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.