Jm. Halperin et al., SEROTONIN, AGGRESSION, AND PARENTAL PSYCHOPATHOLOGY IN CHILDREN WITH ATTENTION-DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 36(10), 1997, pp. 1391-1398
Objective: To explore the relationship between central serotonergic (5
-HT) function and history of parental aggression in aggressive and non
aggressive boys with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Method: History of psychiatric symptoms was assessed in the biological
parents of 41 boys with ADHD. The relationship between 5-HT function
in aggressive and nonaggressive probands, as assessed via the prolacti
n response to fenfluramine (FEN) challenge, and parental history of ag
gression was examined. Results: Aggressive boys with a parental histor
y of aggressive behavior had a significantly lower prolactin response
to FEN challenge than aggressive boys without a parental history of ag
gression. Nonaggressive boys had a prolactin response midway between t
hose of the two aggressive subgroups, and their prolactin response did
not vary as a function of parental aggression. Children subdivided on
the basis of parental history of other psychiatric symptoms did not d
iffer in their response to the FEN challenge. Conclusions: These data
indicate an association between parent aggressive behavior and lower 5
-HT function in aggressive boys with ADHD but do not indicate the exte
nt to which this association is environmentally and/or genetically tra
nsmitted. There may be different neurochemical mechanisms in familial
and nonfamilial aggressive children, which have clinical implications
for pharmacological interventions.