Structural Brain Abnormalities in People with Lifelong Antisocial Behavior

Individuals with lifelong persistent antisocial behavior and those whose antisocial behavior disappears after adolescence have disparate results on neuropsychological testing. Studies linking brain structural abnormalities to antisocial behavior, however, have used heterogeneous samples and have not contrasted these two types of antisocial behavior. These researchers used data from the longitudinal Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Behavior Study to examine MRI-measured cortical thickness and surface area at age 45 in three groups of participants — 80 individuals with lifelong antisocial behavior, 151 with adolescence-limited antisocial behavior, and 441 with few antisocial behaviors (control group). Both antisocial behavior groups were …