Cardiff Study of Genes, Emotions and Thoughts in ADHD
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Antisocial Behaviour in young people with ADHD: identifying risk pathways
IRAS ID
165627
Contact name
Anita Thapar
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cardiff University, Research and Commercial Division
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 1 months, 7 days
Research summary
The project relating to this application is an extension of project “Antisocial Behaviour in young people with ADHD: identifying risk pathways” previously approved by the ethics committee which was closed on 13/05/2014.
The protocol and aims are the same as those previously approved by the ethics committee. It is now our intention to extend sample collection and examine a wider range of genetic variants than previously addressed to continue our investigation into these important questions.
Antisocial behaviour is a major clinical and societal problem. However, there are many different types and causes of antisocial behaviour. One subgroup of children that shows very poor outcomes in adult life consists of children who show antisocial behaviour in childhood accompanied by problems with inattention, hyperactivity and impulsiveness (ADHD). Although family and social factors all contribute to antisocial behaviour, inherited factors seem to be especially important for this subgroup. International efforts are beginning to identify genetic risk variants for these problems. It is therefore time to understand how these genetic risk variants affect this subgroup of antisocial children so we can get clues for better types of treatment. Unfortunately, existing treatments for these children do not seem to work in the longer term. We have some ideas as to how these genetic variants might increase risk, because our previous MRC funded work showed that one specific gene predicted reduced reaction to emotional stimuli, especially those involving fear, seemed to be important. To accurately test how important emotions are in ADHD, we need to test whether multiple types of genetic risks impact on the emotions and it is these that lead to worsened behaviour in adolescents with ADHD. To achieve this we need to expand our sample size from our previous study but otherwise conduct the same sort of work that involves properly measuring emotions and thinking in our testing room at the university that involves seeing how well these children do on specific tasks.REC name
Wales REC 2
REC reference
14/WA/1193
Date of REC Opinion
24 Nov 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion