Investigating the Familial Basis of Heightened Risk-Taking in Adolescents With Conduct Disorder and Their Unaffected Relatives

Dev Neuropsychol. 2016 Jan-Mar;41(1-2):93-106. doi: 10.1080/87565641.2016.1145223. Epub 2016 Mar 31.

Abstract

Previous studies have demonstrated increased risk-taking in adolescents with Conduct Disorder (CD) compared with typically developing controls. Increased risk-taking may partly mediate the pathway from genetic or environmental risk to CD. We investigated the familial basis of risk-taking by examining whether the unaffected relatives of CD probands (n = 22) showed heightened risk-taking in a gambling task, in common with affected probands (n = 44). Adolescents with CD were more likely to select risky options than the typically developing controls (n = 37) and unaffected relatives. Our findings confirm the association between CD and increased risk-taking, but suggest that this decision-making style may not have a familial basis.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Antisocial Personality Disorder / genetics*
  • Antisocial Personality Disorder / psychology*
  • Choice Behavior
  • Conduct Disorder / genetics*
  • Conduct Disorder / psychology*
  • Decision Making
  • Female
  • Gambling / genetics*
  • Gambling / psychology*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Reference Values
  • Risk-Taking*