Healthy Brains & Behavior: Understanding and Treating Youth Aggression
Condition: Aggression
MeSH terms: Aggression
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Understanding the joint neurobiological and social bases to aggression is critical to future
      attempts to tackle this major public health problem. The overarching goals are: (a) to
      conduct perhaps the most systematic integration of biosocial risk factors for childhood
      aggression in order to predict later aggression, (b) to conduct one of the very few biosocial
      interventions on childhood aggression, (c) to predict and treat two fundamentally different
      manifestations of aggression proactive and reactive aggression which likely have different
      etiologies and responsiveness to treatment. The specific aims are: (1) to assess biological
      (genetic, neurocognitive, brain imaging, neuroendocrinological, neurotoxin,
      psychophysiological, nutritional), psychosocial (neighborhood, family, school, peer,
      psychological) and psychiatric (ADHD, CD, ODD, depression, anxiety, PTSD,
      schizophrenia-spectrum) risk factors for male and female aggression in order to better
      predict later aggression, (2) to improve prediction by identifying the genetic, neuroimaging,
      psychophysiological, and neuroendocrinological factors that protect children who are socially
      at risk for a violence outcome, (3) to develop a genetic mouse model of aggression to test
      the effectiveness of nutritional interventions in reducing aggression, (4) to begin to
      develop a new biosocial approach to the treatment and prevention of aggression, based on both
      cognitive-behavioral and nutrition interventions, (5) to assess the differential prediction
      and treatment of two fundamental variants of child aggression: proactive and reactive
      aggression. The human sample will consist of 500 male and female 11-year-old children drawn
      from high-risk communities in Philadelphia. Three hundred participants will engage in a
      baseline assessment for risk factors for aggression, and then be randomly assigned to one of
      four three-month intervention programs: treatment-as-usual, cognitive-behavioral
      intervention, nutrition supplementation, or CBI + nutrition. Aggression outcome will be
      assessed throughout intervention and post-intervention.

      The investigators believe that biological risk factors will interact with social risk factors
      in predicting aggression, over and above main effects of these classes of risk factors.
      Treatment effectiveness will interact with risk factors: those with low omega-3 and high lead
      exposure at intake will benefit most from the nutritional intervention; those with cognitive
      and affective risk factors will benefit most from the neuro-cognitive-behavioral
      intervention.
    


Intervention name(s): CBI; NUT
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Dietary Supplement
Intervention description(s): Participants will have have one hour sessions, once a week for 12 weeks, where they will meet with an interventionist to go over cognitive-behavioral skills.; Participants will be asked to take omega-3 supplements, calcium tablets, and multivitamins every day for 12 weeks.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Factorial Assignment
Masking: Single (Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: aggression; Prevention and treatment of youth aggression