Both genetic and environmental factors play a role in the etiology of aggression and conduct problems. However, it is unclear which and to what extent genes contribute to aggressive traits and what the relative contribution is of the environment and possible interactions between genetic makeup and environmental exposure. Also the neural and molecular pathways which underlie the aforementioned effects are still unclear.
Therefore, our goals are to identify genes that contribute to the onset and course of aggresion and conduct problems, to assess the effect of the pre- and perinatal environment on the onset and course of aggression and conduct problems and to identify gene-environment interactions between susceptibility genes on one hand, and pre- and perinatal environmental events on the other hand.