Disruptions in frontoparietal networks supporting emotion regulation have been long implicated in maladaptive childhood aggression. However, the association of connectivity between large-scale functional networks with aggressive behavior has not been tested. The present study examined whether the functional organization of the connectome predicts severity of aggression in children. This cross-sectional study included a transdiagnostic sample of 100 children with aggressive behavior (27 females) and 29 healthy controls without aggression or psychiatric disorders (13 females). Severity of aggression was indexed by the total score on the parent-rated Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire. During fMRI, participants completed a face emotion perception task of fearful and calm faces. Connectome-based predictive modeling with internal cross-validation was conducted to identify brain networks that predicted aggression severity. The replication and generalizability of the aggression predictive model was then tested in an independent sample of children from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. Connectivity predictive of aggression was identified within and between networks implicated in cognitive control (medial-frontal, frontoparietal), social functioning (default mode, salience), and emotion processing (subcortical, sensorimotor) (r = 0.31, RMSE = 9.05, p = 0.005). Out-of-sample replication (p < 0.002) and generalization (p = 0.007) of findings predicting aggression from the functional connectome was demonstrated in an independent sample of children from the ABCD study (n = 1791; n = 1701). Individual differences in large-scale functional networks contribute to variability in maladaptive aggression in children with psychiatric disorders. Linking these individual differences in the connectome to variation in behavioral phenotypes will advance identification of neural biomarkers of maladaptive childhood aggression to inform targeted treatments.

长期以来，支持情绪调节的额顶叶网络的破坏一直与儿童适应不良的攻击行为有关。然而，大规模功能网络之间的连接与攻击行为之间的关联尚未经过测试。本研究检查了连接组的功能组织是否可以预测儿童攻击性的严重程度。这项横断面研究包括 100 名有攻击行为的儿童（27 名女性）和 29 名没有攻击行为或精神​​疾病的健康对照组（13 名女性）的跨诊断样本。攻击行为的严重程度通过家长评定的反应性攻击行为问卷的总分来索引。在功能磁共振成像期间，参与者完成了恐惧和平静面孔的面部情绪感知任务。进行基于连接组的预测模型和内部交叉验证来识别预测攻击严重程度的大脑网络。然后，在青少年大脑认知发展（ABCD）研究的独立儿童样本中测试了攻击性预测模型的复制性和普遍性。在与认知控制（内侧额叶、额顶叶）、社会功能（默认模式、显着性）和情绪处理（皮层下、感觉运动）有关的网络内部和网络之间确定了预测攻击性的连接性（ r = 0.31，RMSE = 9.05， p = 0.005）。 ABCD 研究的独立儿童样本（ n = 1791； n = 1701）证明了功能性连接组预测攻击性的结果的样本外复制（ p < 0.002）和泛化（ p = 0.007）。 大规模功能网络的个体差异导致患有精神疾病的儿童适应不良攻击行为的变异性。将连接组中的这些个体差异与行为表型的变化联系起来，将有助于识别适应不良的儿童攻击行为的神经生物标志物，从而为有针对性的治疗提供信息。