A study analyses the effects of violent behaviour risk factors in adulthood

The research team from the Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences of the Faculty of Biology, the Institute of Biomedicine of the UB (IBUB) and the CIBERSAM.
The research team from the Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences of the Faculty of Biology, the Institute of Biomedicine of the UB (IBUB) and the CIBERSAM.
Research
(05/06/2018)

 

Living in big cities, having experienced physical or sexual abuse, consuming cannabis or alcohol abuse during adolescence and childhood are some of the factors that can determine the risk of developing an aggressive or violent behaviour during adulthood. This is stated in a study published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, which presents the first scientific evidence of the combined effect of several factors regarding the risk of becoming aggressive during adulthood, regardless of suffering from a mental disorder or not.

The research team from the Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences of the Faculty of Biology, the Institute of Biomedicine of the UB (IBUB) and the CIBERSAM.
The research team from the Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences of the Faculty of Biology, the Institute of Biomedicine of the UB (IBUB) and the CIBERSAM.
Research
05/06/2018

 

Living in big cities, having experienced physical or sexual abuse, consuming cannabis or alcohol abuse during adolescence and childhood are some of the factors that can determine the risk of developing an aggressive or violent behaviour during adulthood. This is stated in a study published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, which presents the first scientific evidence of the combined effect of several factors regarding the risk of becoming aggressive during adulthood, regardless of suffering from a mental disorder or not.

 

The following experts took part in the study: Bárbara Arias and Lourdes Fañanás, from the Faculty of Biology, the Institute of Biomedicine of the University of Barcelona (IBUB) and the Mental Health Networking Biomedical Research Centre (CIBERSAM); Jorge Moya (University of Lleida, CIBERSAM), and Manuel Ignacio Ibáñez and Generós Ortet (University Jaume I, CIBERSAM).


The study was carried out in collaboration with experts from the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Biomedicine in Germany, an institution in which Marina Mitjans, one of the first signers of the article and member of CIBERSAM, is carrying out her postdoctoral stay.


In order to conduct this study, data from more than 1,500 people with schizophrenia from the Göttingen Research Association for Schizophrenia (GRAS) were analysed -information from the team led by professor Hannelore Ehrenreich, from the Max Plank Institute for Experimental Medicine- together with a sample of more than 550 people from the general Spanish population.


Framed within the study, researchers analysed whether participants had been exposed to several factors during childhood and adolescence: living in a big city, physical or sexual abuse, belonging to a collective of immigrants, consuming cannabis and alcohol abuse.


For those patients that had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, the presence of a violent behaviour was set according to the existence of sentences for violent crimes (sexual abuse, involuntary manslaughter, aggression or murder). Regarding the general population, they used indicators associated with violent aggression, such as the presence of psychotic antisocial aspects and personality traits related to aggression or hostility.


According to the study, probabilities of becoming a violent and aggressive adult increase significantly in all the analysed groups that showed at least one high-risk factor. The more risk factors, the higher the probability. In those individuals that presented three or more factors, the probability of showing aggressive and violent behaviours during adulthood went up to ten times higher. In short, the expression of aggression during adulthood is related to the exposure to multiple risk factors during childhood and adolescence, according to the authors. In addition, this risk would be independent from the existence of a mental disorder in that person, as the research team notes.


The new research study identified —in a 142-people subgroup— that those profiles with environmental high risks showed higher levels of histone‐deacetylase1 (HDAC1) mRNA, an epigenetic process mediator. These findings open new enigmas on the effect of the epigenetic print -effects of environmental conditions on genic expression- in the development of violent profiles during adulthood.


The study, published in the journal Molecular Pyschiatry, highlights the need to promote psychosocial measures to improve prevention policies to fight violence in society. In order to face this challenge, it is necessary to develop psychosocial intervention strategies from the very beginning (childhood) involving the participation and commitment from the families and social actors (educators, etc.).