Association between lower-level of environmental lead exposure and reactive and proactive aggression in youth: Sex differences

Abstract

Lead exposure during childhood has been associated with a variety of negative outcomes, including antisocial/aggressive behavior. However, different subtypes of antisocial behavior have been found to have different neurobiological correlates, and it is unclear whether lead exposure is related to specific subtypes of aggressive behavior. The objective of the study was to examine relationships between childhood blood lead levels (BLL) and proactive and reactive aggression. Further, given prior findings of sex differences in the effects of lead exposure, we examine whether there are sex differences in these relationships. In a sample of 818 youth (47.2% girls) ages 10–13 in China, we assessed BLL and administered the Reactive Proactive Aggression Questionnaire. Results show that BLLs were associated with reactive, but not proactive aggression. There was a significant interaction between BLL and sex in predicting aggression; boys with higher BLL scored higher in both proactive and reactive aggression than boys with lower BLL, but these differences were not present for girls. These findings suggest that lead exposure may have broad effects on antisocial behavior, but that boys may be more susceptible than girls. These findings may provide insights to identifying protective factors that could be potential targets for intervention.

Keywords:

• Lead exposure
• aggression
• behavior problems

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, J.L., upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Environment Health Sciences (JL, R01-ES018858, K02-ES019878, K01-ES015877, P30-ES013508) and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (JL, R01- HD087485) by the Jintan City government, as well as the Jintan Hospital.