Back-to-back researches have noted on evidence seen during early brain development changes possibly linked to teens with conduct disorders. Although conduct disorder is defined as a complex behavioral disorder, the team had looked for other regions of the brain which could indicate differences in coordinated development, according to Medical News Today.
Brain regions which exhibited similar or varied thickness, other than the amygdala (the brain's emotional center), were examined through MRI brain scans taken from 58 young adults as well as male teens with conduct disorder. Participants aged between 16 to 21 were part of the said study group. Twenty-five of these participants were teens who showed "healthy controls", and not diagnosed with conduct disorder.
The team was also able to determine that those participants who showed conduct disorder during their childhood (early starters) revealed brain regions having the same level of thickness as those for controls, from those teens with conduct disorder. Those participants who exhibited the disorder during their teens (late starters) had lower instances of showing brain regions as described above.
Associate Professor Graeme Fairchild of Southampton University, who specializes in abnormal psychology, said that comparison made on the temporal and frontal brain regions in the participants indicated a huge involvement on those areas of the brain. He also adds that the findings proved otherwise that teens with conduct disorder is an actual psychiatric disorder, and not limited to what experts suggests as teenage rebellion.
In a related Economic Times post, several differences were also noted in individuals who exhibited the conduct disorder during early childhood as well as those who had it during their teens. The team has placed high value in the belief that specific disruptions that occurred in brain development such as synaptic impulse connections in teens with conduct disorder could be a factor. These findings now associate changes in brain development as key influence in determining whether or not a person is likely to grow up and end up diagnosed as teens with conduct disorder.
