Path analysis (Figure 3) was used to evaluate the relative merits of these interpretations. The analyses offered stronger support for the former interpretation than the latter. However, this interpretation cannot be accepted with confidence until we can obtain more information and replicate these results in a separate longitudinal study. For example, although other studies (27) have documented an association between childhood disruptive disorders and the course (i.e., earlier age-of-onset and a stable or increasing level of severity) of weight problems, we could not conduct this longitudinal analysis in the present study. We therefore cannot confirm that GABRA2 genotype and conduct problems do indeed reduce the age-of-onset or increase the chronicity of obesity in our subjects, and thereby effect changes in white matter and P300a latency.
