Linking testosterone and antisocial behavior in at-risk transitional aged youth: Contextual effects of parentification

Frances R Chen; Jacinda K Dariotis; Douglas A Granger

doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.02.023

Linking testosterone and antisocial behavior in at-risk transitional aged youth: Contextual effects of parentification

Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2018 May:91:1-10. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.02.023. Epub 2018 Feb 23.

Authors

Frances R Chen¹, Jacinda K Dariotis², Douglas A Granger³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA; Institute for Interdisciplinary Salivary Bioscience Research, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA. Electronic address: rchen6@gsu.edu.
² Evaluation Services Center, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA; College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services, School of Education, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA; Institute for Analytics Innovation, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA; Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health, The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
³ Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health, The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Institute for Interdisciplinary Salivary Bioscience Research, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA; Department of Acute and Chronic Care, School of Nursing, Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Salivary Bioscience Laboratory and Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA.

PMID: 29505951
DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.02.023

Abstract

Parentification refers to parents bestowing adult-like roles on children within families, and studies have linked parentification to individual differences in risk and resilience. The depth of our understanding of the pathways that translate parentification into risk for negative developmental outcomes remains shallow. This study examined whether parentification has a contextual effect moderating the expression of links between testosterone and antisocial behavior. Eighty-three participants (M age = 21.37 years, SD = 1.87; 48% Black; 60% female) were interviewed initially and one year later. Audio Computer Assisted Self-Interview methods were used to measure parentification and antisocial behavior. Saliva was sampled on multiple occasions and later assayed for testosterone. Results revealed, for both sexes, testosterone was positively associated with antisocial behavior at baseline and at follow-up when participants scored low on perceived benefits of parentification. This relationship became weaker as levels of perceived benefits of parentification increased. At the highest levels of perceived benefits of parentification, testosterone and antisocial behavior were inversely related. The findings suggest a potentially important role for perceptions of parentification as a moderator for the expression of hormone-behavior relationships and are discussed in terms of implications for the biosocial model of the family.

Keywords: Antisocial behavior; Context contingency; Moderator; Parentification; Testosterone.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Adaptation, Psychological / physiology
Adult
Adverse Childhood Experiences
Antisocial Personality Disorder / etiology
Antisocial Personality Disorder / metabolism*
Antisocial Personality Disorder / psychology
Female
Humans
Male
Parent-Child Relations
Parenting / psychology
Parents / psychology
Saliva / chemistry
Testosterone / adverse effects
Testosterone / analysis
Testosterone / physiology*
Young Adult

Substances

Testosterone

Grants and funding

K01 DA029571/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/United States