Elemental status and psychological predisposition of the Russian population to deviant behavior

Abstract

BACKGROUND: One of the most crucial environmental factors is the geochemical structure and chemical composition of the soils and waters in a given area, as they directly influence the elemental status of the population residing there. However, there is currently a lack of data regarding the associations between the elemental status of Russian residents and the severity of indicators related to deviant behavior. AIM: To study the potential influence of chemical environmental factors on the development of deviant behavior in men and women residing in the Russian Federation. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study involved 1815 students who were permanent residents of the 14 regions of Russia. The elemental status was determined by concentrations of 25 chemical elements in hair samples. A set of standard indicators of psychological status was employed to assess the risk of developing deviant behavior in the study participants. Associations between hair concentrations of the elements and psychological status were studied by correlation analysis. RESULTS: Reactive aggressiveness was negatively associated with the concentration of potassium (p=0.016), sodium (p=0.05) and beryllium (p=0.044) in men, while it was positively associated with the concentration of zinc (p=0.005) in women. Depression and the level of suicidal ideation were associated with lithium deficiency (p=0.018 and p=0.022) in men and with selenium deficiency in women (p=0.004 and p=0.001). The risk of alcoholism was inversely associated with the content of zinc (p=0.001), lithium (p=0.026), selenium (p=0.027) and calcium (p=0.049) in men while in women the significant associations were found for boron (p=0.02) and phosphorus (p=0.044). Drug consumption was positively associated with hair concentrations of silicon (p 0.001), nickel (p=0.002), magnesium (p=0.005), lead (p=0.007), selenium (p=0.011) and tin (p=0.012) in men and with aluminum (p=0.005), selenium (p=0.021) and iron (p=0.05) in women. CONCLUSION: Our study provide the evidence on the associations between chemical elements some prerequisites for the development of deviant behavior in Russia.