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The developmental origins of chronic physical aggression: biological pathways triggered by early life adversity

Nadine Provençal¹, Linda Booij², Richard E Tremblay³

¹Department of Translational Research in Psychiatry, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich 80804, Germany nadine_provencal@psych.mpg.de.

The Journal of Experimental Biology

|January 9, 2015

Insights

Physical aggression begins in infancy, peaking in early childhood. Chronic aggression in a small percentage of children is linked to early adversity, potentially mediated by epigenetic changes in stress, serotonin, and immune system genes.

Area of Science:

Developmental Psychology
Behavioral Neuroscience
Genetics

Background:

Physical aggression emerges in infancy, not adolescence, with a peak around 2-4 years.
A small subset of children exhibit persistent physical aggression, leading to adult social adjustment issues.
While genetics and early social experiences are implicated in chronic aggression, biological mechanisms remain unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

To explore the biological underpinnings of chronic aggressive behavior.
To investigate the role of epigenetic mechanisms in linking early adversity to long-term aggression.
To identify specific epigenetic alterations associated with early life stress and aggression.

Main Methods:

Longitudinal epidemiological studies utilizing birth cohorts.
Gene candidate and genomic approaches to identify epigenetic marks.
Analysis of DNA methylation in genes related to stress, serotonin, and immune systems.

Main Results:

Epigenetic mechanisms, specifically DNA methylation changes, are implicated in the long-lasting effects of early adversity.
Alterations in genes associated with the stress response, serotonin, and immune systems were identified.
These epigenetic marks may contribute to the development of chronic aggression.

Conclusions:

Early adversity can lead to lasting epigenetic changes that influence aggressive behavior.
Epigenetic modifications in key biological systems may mediate the link between early life stress and chronic aggression.
Further longitudinal research is needed to fully understand the sequence of events from adversity to epigenetic marks and aggression.

Read full analysis

Abstract:

Longitudinal epidemiological studies with birth cohorts have shown that physical aggression in humans does not appear suddenly in adolescence as commonly thought. In fact, physically aggressive behaviour is observed as early as 12 months after birth, its frequency peaks around 2-4 years of age and decreases in frequency until early adulthood. However, a minority of children (3-7%) maintain a high frequency of physical aggression from childhood to adolescence and develop serious social adjustment problems during adulthood. Genetic factors and early social experiences, as well as their interaction, have been shown to play an important role in the development of chronic aggressive behaviour. However, the biological mechanisms underlying these associations are just beginning to be uncovered. Recent evidence suggests that epigenetic mechanisms are responsive to adverse environments and could be involved in the development of chronic aggression. Using both gene candidate and genomic approaches, recent studies have identified epigenetic marks, such as DNA methylation alterations in genes involved in the stress response and the serotonin and immune systems to be partly responsible for the long-lasting effects of early adversity. Further longitudinal studies with biological, environmental and behavioural assessments from birth onwards are needed to elucidate the sequence of events that leads to these long-lasting epigenetic marks associated with early adversity and aggression.

Keywords:

Aggression DNA methylation Development Early-life stress Epigenetic HPA axis Immune system Physical aggression Serotonin

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