Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-c654p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-25T06:05:50.379Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Vitamin D sufficiency attenuates the effect of early social adversity on child antisocial behavior

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2021

Olivia Choy Open the ORCID record for Olivia Choy [Opens in a new window]  and
Adrian Raine
Olivia Choy*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Nanyang Technological University, 48 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 639818, Singapore
Adrian Raine
Affiliation:
Departments of Criminology, Psychiatry, and Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, McNeil Building, 3718 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Olivia Choy, E-mail: oliviachoy@ntu.edu.sg
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

Vitamin D insufficiency and child antisocial behavior are public health concerns. It is unknown whether vitamin D plays a role in antisocial outcomes. This study examines whether higher levels of vitamin D can act as a protective factor against antisocial behavior for children who are exposed to early social adversity.

Methods

In a community sample of 300 children aged 11–12 years (151 females, 149 males), serum concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] were assessed alongside early social adversity, and both parent and child-reported antisocial behavior.

Results

Vitamin D moderated the association between early social adversity and multiple antisocial outcomes. Higher social adversity was associated with greater antisocial behavior among vitamin D-insufficient [25(OH)D < 30 ng/mL], but not vitamin D-sufficient children [25(OH)D ⩾ 30 ng/mL], after adjusting for other variables. Results from child reports of antisocial behavior were replicated with parent reports, providing support for the robustness of the findings. At serum 25(OH)D concentrations above 27.16–30.69 ng/mL (close to 30 ng/mL, the recommended optimal vitamin D level for pediatric populations), the effect of social adversity on antisocial behavior outcomes was nullified.

Conclusions

To our knowledge, this study is the first to document that a nutritional factor, vitamin D, can potentially confer resilience to antisocial behavior. Our findings in a pediatric population suggest a possible role of vitamin D supplementation in interventions to reduce antisocial behavior, which may be further investigated in future randomized controlled trials.

Keywords

aggressionantisocial behaviorprotective factorsresiliencesocial adversityvitamin D
Type
Original Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 52 , Issue 16 , December 2022 , pp. 4106 - 4115
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Achenbach, T., & Rescorla, L. (2001). Manual for the ASEBA school–age forms & profiles. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Research Center for Children, Youth, & Families.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
Benton, D. (2007). The impact of diet on anti-social, violent and criminal behaviour. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 31(5), 752–774.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Buss, A. H., & Perry, M. (1992). The aggression questionnaire. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63(3), 452.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Choy, O., & Raine, A. (2018). Omega-3 supplementation as a dietary intervention to reduce aggressive and antisocial behavior. Current Psychiatry Reports, 20(5), 1–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Choy, O., Raine, A., Portnoy, J., Rudo-Hutt, A., Gao, Y., & Soyfer, L. (2015). The mediating role of heart rate on the social adversity-antisocial behavior relationship: A social neurocriminology perspective. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 52(3), 303–341.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, M. A., & Piquero, A. R. (2009). New evidence on the monetary value of saving a high risk youth. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 25(1), 25–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Danese, A., & McEwen, B. S. (2012). Adverse childhood experiences, allostasis, allostatic load, and age-related disease. Physiology & Behavior, 106(1), 29–39.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dodge, K. A., Bierman, K. L., Coie, J. D., Greenberg, M. T., Lochman, J. E., McMahon, R. J., … Group, C. P. P. R. (2014). Impact of early intervention on psychopathology, crime, and well-being at age 25. American Journal of Psychiatry, 172(1), 59–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dong, Y., Pollock, N., Stallmann-Jorgensen, I. S., Gutin, B., Lan, L., Chen, T. C., … Zhu, H. (2010). Low 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels in adolescents: Race, season, adiposity, physical activity, and fitness. Pediatrics, 125(6), 1104–1111.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Erceg-Hurn, D. M., & Mirosevich, V. M. (2008). Modern robust statistical methods: An easy way to maximize the accuracy and power of your research. American Psychologist, 63(7), 591.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Esposito, S., & Lelii, M. (2015). Vitamin D and respiratory tract infections in childhood. BMC Infectious Diseases, 15(1), 487.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eves, A., & Gesch, B. (2003). Food provision and the nutritional implications of food choices made by young adult males, in a young offenders' institution. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, 16(3), 167–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eyles, D. W., Burne, T. H., & McGrath, J. J. (2013). Vitamin D, effects on brain development, adult brain function and the links between low levels of vitamin D and neuropsychiatric disease. Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology, 34(1), 47–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Farrington, D. P. (1997). The relationship between low resting heart rate and violence. In Raine, A., Brennan, P. A., Farrington, D. P., & Mednick, S. A. (Eds.), Biosocial bases of violence (pp. 89–105). New York: Plenum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farrington, D. P., & Ttofi, M. M. (2011). Protective and promotive factors in the development of offending. In Bliesener, T., Beelman, A., & Stemmler, M. (Eds.), Antisocial behavior and crime: Contributions of developmental and evaluation research to prevention and intervention (pp. 71–88). Cambridge, Mass: Hogrefe Publishing.Google Scholar
Frick, P. J., & Hare, R. D. (2001). Antisocial process screening device: APSD: Multi-Health Systems Toronto.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Godel, J. C., Irvine, J., Onyett, H., Saylor, K., Schroter, H., & Young, M. (2007). Vitamin D supplementation: Recommendations for Canadian mothers and infants. Paediatrics & Child Health, 12(7), 583–589.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Groves, N. J., McGrath, J. J., & Burne, T. H. (2014). Vitamin D as a neurosteroid affecting the developing and adult brain. Annual Review of Nutrition, 34, 117–141.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hall, J. E., Simon, T. R., Mercy, J. A., Loeber, R., Farrington, D. P., & Lee, R. D. (2012). Centers for disease control and prevention's expert panel on protective factors for youth violence perpetration: Background and overview. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 43(2), S1–S7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayes, A. F. (2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach (Vol. 1609182308). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Hilger, J., Friedel, A., Herr, R., Rausch, T., Roos, F., Wahl, D. A., … Hoffmann, K. (2014). A systematic review of vitamin D status in populations worldwide. British Journal of Nutrition, 111(1), 23–45.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holick, M. F. (2017). The vitamin D deficiency pandemic: Approaches for diagnosis, treatment and prevention. Reviews in Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders, 18(2), 153–165.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holick, M. F., Binkley, N. C., Bischoff-Ferrari, H. A., Gordon, C. M., Hanley, D. A., Heaney, R. P., … Weaver, C. M. (2011). Evaluation, treatment, and prevention of vitamin D deficiency: An endocrine society clinical practice guideline. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 96(7), 1911–1930.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hossein-nezhad, A., & Holick, M. F. (2013). Vitamin D for health: a global perspective. Paper presented at the Mayo Clinic Proceedings.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, P. O., & Fay, L. C. (1950). The Johnson–Neyman technique, its theory and application. Psychometrika, 15(4), 349–367.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jolliffe, D., Farrington, D. P., Loeber, R., & Pardini, D. (2016). Protective factors for violence: Results from the Pittsburgh Youth Study. Journal of Criminal Justice, 45, 32–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalueff, A. V., & Tuohimaa, P. (2007). Neurosteroid hormone vitamin D and its utility in clinical nutrition. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition & Metabolic Care, 10(1), 12–19.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kamal, M., Bener, A., & Ehlayel, M. S. (2014). Is high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency a correlate for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder? ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders, 6(2), 73–78.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Khoshbakht, Y., Bidaki, R., & Salehi-Abargouei, A. (2018). Vitamin D status and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. Advances in Nutrition, 9(1), 9–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim-Cohen, J., Caspi, A., Taylor, A., Williams, B., Newcombe, R., Craig, I. W., & Moffitt, T. E. (2006). MAOA, maltreatment, and gene–environment interaction predicting children's mental health: New evidence and a meta-analysis. Molecular Psychiatry, 11(10), 903–913.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kumar, J., Muntner, P., Kaskel, F. J., Hailpern, S. M., & Melamed, M. L. (2009). Prevalence and associations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D deficiency in US children: NHANES 2001–2004. Pediatrics, 124(3), e362–e370.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lansford, J. E., Criss, M. M., Pettit, G. S., Dodge, K. A., & Bates, J. E. (2003). Friendship quality, peer group affiliation, and peer antisocial behavior as moderators of the link between negative parenting and adolescent externalizing behavior. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 13(2), 161–184.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Liu, J., Richmond, T. S., Raine, A., Cheney, R., Brodkin, E. S., Gur, R. C., & Gur, R. E. (2013). The healthy brains and behavior study: Objectives, design, recruitment, and population coverage. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, 22(3), 204–216.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mansbach, J. M., Ginde, A. A., & Camargo, C. A. (2009). Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels among US children aged 1 to 11 years: Do children need more vitamin D? Pediatrics, 124(5), 1404–1410.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Massey, D. S., & Martin, J. A. (2003). The NIS skin color scale. Office of Population Research, Princeton University.Google Scholar
Mazahery, H., Camargo, C. A., Conlon, C., Beck, K. L., Kruger, M. C., & von Hurst, P. R. (2016). Vitamin D and autism spectrum disorder: A literature review. Nutrients, 8(4), 236.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McEwen, B. S. (1998). Stress, adaptation, and disease: Allostasis and allostatic load. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 840(1), 33–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGrath, J. J., Burne, T. H., Féron, F., Mackay-Sim, A., & Eyles, D. W. (2010). Developmental vitamin D deficiency and risk of schizophrenia: A 10-year update. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 36(6), 1073–1078.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moul, C., Dobson-Stone, C., Brennan, J., Hawes, D., & Dadds, M. (2013). An exploration of the serotonin system in antisocial boys with high levels of callous-unemotional traits. PLoS One, 8(2), e56619.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Palacios, C., & Gonzalez, L. (2014). Is vitamin D deficiency a major global public health problem? The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 144, 138–145.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Patrick, R. P., & Ames, B. N. (2015). Vitamin D and the omega-3 fatty acids control serotonin synthesis and action, part 2: Relevance for ADHD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and impulsive behavior. The FASEB Journal, 29(6), 2207–2222.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Piotrowska, P. J., Stride, C. B., Croft, S. E., & Rowe, R. (2015). Socioeconomic status and antisocial behaviour among children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 35, 47–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raine, A. (2008). Conduct and oppositional defiant disorder questionnaire (COD). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Raine, A. (2019). A neurodevelopmental perspective on male violence. Infant Mental Health Journal, 40(1), 84–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raine, A., Cheney, R. A., Ho, R., Portnoy, J., Liu, J., Soyfer, L., … Richmond, T. S. (2016). Nutritional supplementation to reduce child aggression: A randomized, stratified, single-blind, factorial trial. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 57(9), 1038–1046.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raine, A., Dodge, K., Loeber, R., Gatzke-Kopp, L., Lynam, D., Reynolds, C., … Liu, J. (2006). The reactive–proactive aggression questionnaire: Differential correlates of reactive and proactive aggression in adolescent boys. Aggressive Behavior, 32(2), 159–171.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Richmond, T. S., Cheney, R., Soyfer, L., Kimmel, R., & Raine, A. (2013). Recruitment of community-residing youth into studies on aggression. Journal of Community Psychology, 41(4), 425–434.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ross, A. C., Manson, J. E., Abrams, S. A., Aloia, J. F., Brannon, P. M., Clinton, S. K., … Jones, G. (2011). The 2011 report on dietary reference intakes for calcium and vitamin D from the Institute of Medicine: What clinicians need to know. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 96(1), 53–58.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schmidt, U. (2015). A plea for symptom-based research in psychiatry. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 6(1), 27660.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shaffer, D., Fisher, P., Lucas, C. P., Dulcan, M. K., & Schwab-Stone, M. E. (2000). NIMH diagnostic interview schedule for children version IV (NIMH DISC-IV): Description, differences from previous versions, and reliability of some common diagnoses. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 39(1), 28–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shakoor, S., Jaffee, S. R., Andreou, P., Bowes, L., Ambler, A. P., Caspi, A., … Arseneault, L. (2011). Mothers and children as informants of bullying victimization: Results from an epidemiological cohort of children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 39(3), 379–387.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sonuga-Barke, E. J. (2015). Diet and children's behaviour problems – disentangling urban myth from clinical reality. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 56(5), 497–499.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sonuga-Barke, E. J., Beckett, C., Kreppner, J., Castle, J., Colvert, E., Stevens, S., … Rutter, M. (2008). Is sub-nutrition necessary for a poor outcome following early institutional deprivation? Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 50(9), 664–671.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Steingrimsdottir, L., Gunnarsson, O., Indridason, O. S., Franzson, L., & Sigurdsson, G. (2005). Relationship between serum parathyroid hormone levels, vitamin D sufficiency, and calcium intake. JAMA, 294(18), 2336–2341.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taylor, S. N. (2020). Vitamin D in toddlers, preschool children, and adolescents. Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism, 76(2), 30–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thorisdottir, B., Gunnarsdottir, I., Steingrimsdottir, L., Palsson, G. I., Birgisdottir, B. E., & Thorsdottir, I. (2016). Vitamin D intake and status in 6-year-old Icelandic children followed up from infancy. Nutrients, 8(2), 75.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ttofi, M. M., Farrington, D. P., Piquero, A. R., Lösel, F., DeLisi, M., & Murray, J. (2016). Intelligence as a protective factor against offending: A meta-analytic review of prospective longitudinal studies. Journal of Criminal Justice, 45, 4–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tuvblad, C., Grann, M., & Lichtenstein, P. (2006). Heritability for adolescent antisocial behavior differs with socioeconomic status: Gene–environment interaction. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47(7), 734–743.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van der Molen, E., Blokland, A. A., Hipwell, A. E., Vermeiren, R. R., Doreleijers, T. A., & Loeber, R. (2015). Girls’ childhood trajectories of disruptive behavior predict adjustment problems in early adolescence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 56(7), 766–773.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Viding, E., Jones, A. P., Paul, J. F., Moffitt, T. E., & Plomin, R. (2008). Heritability of antisocial behaviour at 9: Do callous-unemotional traits matter? Developmental Science, 11(1), 17–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Viding, E., & McCrory, E. J. (2012). Genetic and neurocognitive contributions to the development of psychopathy. Development and Psychopathology, 24, 969–983.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Von Stumm, S., Deary, I. J., Kivimäki, M., Jokela, M., Clark, H., & Batty, G. D. (2011). Childhood behavior problems and health at midlife: 35-year follow-up of a Scottish birth cohort. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 52(9), 992–1001.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wade, R., Shea, J. A., Rubin, D., & Wood, J. (2014). Adverse childhood experiences of low-income urban youth. Pediatrics, 134(1), e13–e20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wahl, D. A., Cooper, C., Ebeling, P. R., Eggersdorfer, M., Hilger, J., Hoffmann, K., … Dawson-Hughes, B. (2012). A global representation of vitamin D status in healthy populations. Archives of Osteoporosis, 7(1), 155–172.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wang, T. J., Zhang, F., Richards, J. B., Kestenbaum, B., Van Meurs, J. B., Berry, D., … Spector, T. D. (2010). Common genetic determinants of vitamin D insufficiency: A genome-wide association study. The Lancet, 376(9736), 180–188.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wechsler, D. (2003). Wechsler intelligence scale for children – fourth edition (WISC-IV): Administration and scoring manual. San Antonio, Texas: The Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Yang, Y., Joshi, S. H., Jahanshad, N., Thompson, P. M., & Baker, L. A. (2017). Neural correlates of proactive and reactive aggression in adolescent twins. Aggressive Behavior, 43(3), 230–240.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yang, Y., & Raine, A. (2009). Prefrontal structural and functional brain imaging findings in antisocial, violent, and psychopathic individuals: A meta-analysis. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 174(2), 81–88.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ziegler, G., Moutoussis, M., Hauser, T. U., Fearon, P., Bullmore, E. T., Goodyer, I. M., … Dolan, R. J. (2020). Childhood socio-economic disadvantage predicts reduced myelin growth across adolescence and young adulthood. Human Brain Mapping, 41(12), 3392–3402.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: File

Choy and Raine supplementary material

Choy and Raine supplementary material

Download Choy and Raine supplementary material(File)
File 51.4 KB