Richard E. Tremblay

Stress Response in Anxious and Nonanxious Disruptive Boys

Autonomic reactivity to cognitive stress was assessed in 51 10-year-old boys who had been assigned, based on teacher-rated evaluations of disruptive and anxious behavior, to one of three groups: Disruptive (n = 18), Anxious–Disruptive (n = 18), or Controls (n = 15). Socioeconomic status and familial disadvantageness were equivalent among the groups. Disruptive boys were more aggressive than Controls, although anxiety significantly moderated physical aggression. Autonomic parameters were examined during a mental arithmetic stress task that included performance incentives and response costs. Electrodermal activity, cardiac reactivity, and muscle tension were higher in the Anxious-Disruptive group. The nonanxious disruptive boys (Disruptive group) were electrodermally underaroused during cognitive stress. Reward sensitivity to monetary gain and loss was similar among the groups. The study supports the use of psychophysiological assessments of stress adaptation to delineate patterns of individual differences among children at risk for developing behavioral disorders.