Grant: CIHR Fellowship

Children who develop a Disruptive Behaviour Disorder (DBD) are exposed at a disproportionate rate to adversities such as maltreatment, poverty, and parent psychopathology. Up to one quarter of adversity-exposed children will go on to developed a DBD, which substantially increases their risk for mental illness, substance abuse, and all-cause mortality. This project will determine whether children's ability to manage acute stress is a causal mechanism linking early adversity to subsequent DBD and associated behavioural impairments. In Study 1, children's ability to regulate their cognitive (i.e. attention) and autonomic nervous system (i.e. parasympathetic and sympathetic branches) function following an ecologically valid psychosocial stressor will be examined as a mediating factor between adversity and DBD symptoms. In Study 2, children's improvements in acute stress management following an evidenced-based treatment for DBD will be examined as a predictor of DBD symptom reduction. Links between acute stress vulnerability and DBD symptoms are expected to be stronger for children with adversity exposure. Results will highlight biobehavioral markers to inform development of targeted intervention strategies to improve behavioral function and reduce mental illness, particularly for adversity-exposed children.