The development of electrodermal fear conditioning from ages 3 to 8 years and relationships with antisocial behavior at age 8 years

Poor fear conditioning has been found in adult psychopaths and criminals, but little is known about how fear conditioning develops early in life, how changes in conditioning across age are related to antisocial behavior (ASB), and whether the psychophysiology - antisocial association is moderated by gender or social adversity. Using a differential, partial reinforcement conditioning paradigm with a 10 second inters-stimulus interval, skin conductance responses to auditory aversive tones were recorded from 200 male and female Mauritian children at five occasions at ages 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8 years. Aggressive and nonaggressive ASB data were assessed at age 8 by teachers. Measures of social adversity were collected from the caregiver when the children were aged 3 years. Latent growth curve modeling was used to map the development of fear conditioning throughout childhood and to define homogenous clusters of children based on their developmental fear conditioning trajectories over time. Group differences in ASB and the moderating effects of gender and social adversity were then examined. Results from skin conductance tests showed that fear conditioning increases from ages 3 to 8 years. The three components of fear conditioning (first interval response, second interval response, and third interval response) exhibited somewhat different developmental trajectories. Two latent classes were identified based on average conditioning: good conditioners ( N = 32, 47% male) and poor conditioners (N = 111, 52% male). Poor conditioners scored significantly higher on the total antisocial scale and both aggressive and nonaggressive antisocial subscales. Results are consistent with the hypothesis that the relationship between poor fear conditioning and ASB occurs early in childhood and demonstrate that this association applies to all children across gender and social backgrounds. It is suggested that reduced electrodermal fear conditioning may represent an early risk factor for future antisocial behavior, and that it has potentially important implications for early identification and intervention attempts which can target these high-risk children.