The structure of cognition in 9 and 10 year-old children and associations with problem behaviors: Findings from the ABCD study's baseline neurocognitive battery

Meaningful associations in the adolescent brain cognitive development study

The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study is the largest single-cohort prospective longitudinal study of neurodevelopment and children's health in the United States. A cohort of n = 11,880 children aged 9-10 years (and their parents/guardians) were recruited across 22 sites and are being followed with in-person visits on an annual basis for at least 10 years. The study approximates the US population on several key sociodemographic variables, including sex, race, ethnicity, household income, and parental education. Data collected include assessments of health, mental health, substance use, culture and environment and neurocognition, as well as geocoded exposures, structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and whole-genome genotyping. Here, we describe the ABCD Study aims and design, as well as issues surrounding estimation of meaningful associations using its data, including population inferences, hypothesis testing, power and precision, control of covariates, interpretation of associations, and recommended best practices for reproducible research, analytical procedures and reporting of results.

Development of white matter microstructure and executive functions during childhood and adolescence: a review of diffusion MRI studies

Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) provides indirect measures of white matter microstructure that can be used to make inferences about structural connectivity within the brain. Over the last decade, a growing literature of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies have documented relationships between dMRI indices and cognitive development. In this review, we provide a brief overview of dMRI methods and how they can be used to study white matter and connectivity and review the extant literature examining the links between dMRI indices and executive functions during development. We explore the links between white matter microstructure and specific executive functions: inhibition, working memory and cognitive shifting, as well as performance on complex executive function tasks. Concordance in findings across studies are highlighted, and potential explanations for discrepancies between results, together with challenges with using dMRI in child and adolescent populations, are discussed. Finally, we explore future directions that are necessary to better understand the links between child and adolescent development of structural connectivity of the brain and executive functions.

Collecting big data with small screens: Group tests of children's cognition with touchscreen tablets are reliable and valid

Collecting experimental cognitive data with young children usually requires undertaking one-on-one assessments, which can be both expensive and time-consuming. In addition, there is increasing acknowledgement of the importance of collecting larger samples for improving statistical power Button et al. (Nature Reviews Neuroscience 14(5), 365-376, 2013), and reproducing exploratory findings Open Science Collaboration (Science, 349(6251), aac4716-aac4716 2015). One way both of these goals can be achieved more easily, even with a small team of researchers, is to utilize group testing. In this paper, we evaluate the results from a novel tablet application developed for the Resilience in Education and Development (RED) Study. The RED-app includes 12 cognitive tasks designed for groups of children aged 7 to 13 to independently complete during a 1-h school lesson. The quality of the data collected was high despite the lack of one-on-one engagement with participants. Most outcomes from the tablet showed moderate or high reliability, estimated using internal consistency metrics. Tablet-measured cognitive abilities also explained more than 50% of variance in teacher-rated academic achievement. Overall, the results suggest that tablet-based, group cognitive assessments of children are an efficient, reliable, and valid method of collecting the large datasets that modern psychology requires. We have open-sourced the scripts and materials used to make the application, so that they can be adapted and used by others.

Mapping components of verbal and visuospatial working memory to mathematical topics in seven- to fifteen-year-olds

BACKGROUND

Developmental research provides considerable evidence of a strong relationship between verbal and visuospatial working memory (WM) and mathematics ability across age groups. However, little is known about how components of WM (i.e., short-term storage, processing speed, the central executive) might relate to mathematics sub-categories and how these change as children develop.

AIMS

This study aimed to identify developmental changes in relationships between components of verbal and visuospatial WM and specific mathematics abilities.

SAMPLE

Children (n = 117) were recruited from four UK schools across three age groups (7-8 years; 9-10 years; and 14-15 years).

METHODS

Children's verbal and visuospatial short-term storage, processing speed, and central executive abilities were assessed. Age-based changes in the contributions from these abilities to performance on mathematics sub-categories were examined.

RESULTS

When WM was examined both as an amalgamation of its component parts, and individually, relationships with mathematics were more evident in younger children compared to the middle and older age groups. However, when unique variance was examined for each WM predictor (controlling for the other components), many of those relationships disappeared. Relationships with processing speed and the central executive were found to be more evident in the older age groups.

CONCLUSIONS

The WM-mathematics relationship changes dependent on age and mathematical sub-component. Overlap in individual WM abilities in younger children, compared to reliance on the central executive and processing speed in older children, suggests a set of fluid resources important in mathematics learning in younger children but separating out as children grow older.

Parents' Perceived Neighborhood Safety and Children's Cognitive Performance: Complexities by Race, Ethnicity, and Cognitive Domain

BACKGROUND AIM

To examine racial/ethnic variations in the effect of parents' subjective neighborhood safety on children's cognitive performance.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study included 10,027 children from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. The exposure variable was parents' subjective neighborhood safety. The outcomes were three domains of children's cognitive performance: general cognitive performance, executive functioning, and learning/memory. We used mixed-effects regression models for data analysis.

RESULTS

Overall, parents' subjective neighborhood safety was positively associated with children's executive functioning, but not general cognitive performance or learning/memory. Higher parents' subjective neighborhood safety had a more positive influence on the executive functioning of non-Hispanic White than Asian American children. Higher parents' subjective neighborhood safety was associated with higher general cognitive performance and learning/memory for non-White children relative to non-Hispanic White children.

CONCLUSION

The race/ethnicity of children moderates the association between neighborhood safety and cognitive performance. This becomes more complicated, as the patterns seem to differ across race/ethnicity and cognitive domains. It is unknown whether the observed racial/ethnic variations in the effect of neighborhood safety on cognitive performance are due to neighborhood characteristics such as residential segregation. Addressing neighborhood inequalities is needed if we wish to reduce racial/ethnic inequities in the cognitive development of children.

Parental Educational Attainment, the Superior Temporal Cortical Surface Area, and Reading Ability among American Children: A Test of Marginalization-Related Diminished Returns

BACKGROUND

Recent studies have shown that parental educational attainment is associated with a larger superior temporal cortical surface area associated with higher reading ability in children. Simultaneously, the marginalization-related diminished returns (MDRs) framework suggests that, due to structural racism and social stratification, returns of parental education are smaller for black and other racial/ethnic minority children compared to their white counterparts.

PURPOSE

This study used a large national sample of 9-10-year-old American children to investigate associations between parental educational attainment, the right and left superior temporal cortical surface area, and reading ability across diverse racial/ethnic groups.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional analysis that included 10,817 9-10-year-old children from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. Parental educational attainment was treated as a five-level categorical variable. Children's right and left superior temporal cortical surface area and reading ability were continuous variables. Race/ethnicity was the moderator. To adjust for the nested nature of the ABCD data, mixed-effects regression models were used to test the associations between parental education, superior temporal cortical surface area, and reading ability overall and by race/ethnicity.

RESULTS

Overall, high parental educational attainment was associated with greater superior temporal cortical surface area and reading ability in children. In the pooled sample, we found statistically significant interactions between race/ethnicity and parental educational attainment on children's right and left superior temporal cortical surface area, suggesting that high parental educational attainment has a smaller boosting effect on children's superior temporal cortical surface area for black than white children. We also found a significant interaction between race and the left superior temporal surface area on reading ability, indicating weaker associations for Alaskan Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AIAN/NHPI) than white children. We also found interactions between race and parental educational attainment on reading ability, indicating more potent effects for black children than white children.

CONCLUSION

While parental educational attainment may improve children's superior temporal cortical surface area, promoting reading ability, this effect may be unequal across racial/ethnic groups. To minimize the racial/ethnic gap in children's brain development and school achievement, we need to address societal barriers that diminish parental educational attainment's marginal returns for middle-class minority families. Social and public policies need to go beyond equal access and address structural and societal barriers that hinder middle-class families of color and their children. Future research should test how racism, social stratification, segregation, and discrimination, which shape the daily lives of non-white individuals, take a toll on children's brains and academic development.

Association between Hippocampal Volume and Working Memory in 10,000+ 9-10-Year-Old Children: Sex Differences

AIM

This study tested sex differences in the association between hippocampal volume and working memory of a national sample of 9-10-year-old children in the US. As the hippocampus is functionally lateralized (especially in task-related activities), we explored the results for the right and the left hippocampus.

METHODS

This is a cross-sectional study using the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study data. This analysis included baseline ABCD data (n = 10,093) of children between ages 9 and 10 years. The predictor variable was right and left hippocampal volume measured by structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI). The primary outcome, list sorting working memory, was measured using the NIH toolbox measure. Sex was the moderator. Age, race, ethnicity, household income, parental education, and family structure were the covariates.

RESULTS

In the overall sample, larger right (b = 0.0013; p < 0.001) and left (b = 0.0013; p < 0.001) hippocampal volumes were associated with higher children's working memory. Sex had statistically significant interactions with the right (b = -0.0018; p = 0.001) and left (b = -0.0012; p = 0.022) hippocampal volumes on children's working memory. These interactions indicated stronger positive associations between right and left hippocampal volume and working memory for females compared to males.

CONCLUSION

While right and left hippocampal volumes are determinants of children's list sorting working memory, these effects seem to be more salient for female than male children. Research is needed on the role of socialization, sex hormones, and brain functional connectivity as potential mechanisms that may explain the observed sex differences in the role of hippocampal volume as a correlate of working memory.

Contributions from resting state functional connectivity and familial risk to early adolescent-onset MDD: Results from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study

BACKGROUND

Family history of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a robust predictor of MDD onset, especially in early adolescence. We examined the relationships between familial risk for depression and alterations to resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) within the default mode network (wDMN) and between the DMN and the left/right hippocampus (DMN-LHIPP/DMN-RHIPP) to the risk for early adolescent MDD onset.

METHODS

We examined 9403 youth aged nine to eleven from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study. Depressive symptoms were measured with the parent-reported Child Behavior Checklist. Both youth and their parents completed the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia, which provided MDD diagnoses. A family history screen was administered to determine familial risk for depression. Youth underwent a resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging scan, providing us with rsFC data.

RESULTS

Negative wDMN rsFC was associated with child-reported current depression, both child- and parent-reported past depression, and parent-reported current depressive symptoms. No difference was found in wDMN, DMN-LHIPP or DMN-RHIPP rsFC in children with or without familial risk for depression. Familial risk for depression interacted with wDMN rsFC in association with child-reported past MDD diagnosis and parent-reported current depressive symptoms.

LIMITATIONS

Information such as length of depressive episodes and age of onset of depression was not collected.

CONCLUSIONS

Altered wDMN rsFC in youth at familial risk for depression may be associated with increased risk for MDD onset in adolescence, but longitudinal studies are needed to test this hypothesis.

Breastfeeding Duration Is Associated With Domain-Specific Improvements in Cognitive Performance in 9-10-Year-Old Children

Significant immunological, physical and neurological benefits of breastfeeding in infancy are well-established, but to what extent these gains persist into later childhood remain uncertain. This study examines the association between breastfeeding duration and subsequent domain-specific cognitive performance in a diverse sample of 9-10-year-olds enrolled in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study®. The analyses included 9,116 children that attended baseline with their biological mother and had complete neurocognitive and breastfeeding data. Principal component analysis was conducted on data from an extensive battery of neurocognitive tests using varimax-rotation to extract a three-component model encompassing General Ability, Executive Functioning, and Memory. Propensity score weighting using generalized boosted modeling was applied to balance the distribution of observed covariates for children breastfed for 0, 1-6, 7-12, and more than 12 months. Propensity score-adjusted linear regression models revealed significant association between breastfeeding duration and performance on neurocognitive tests representing General Ability, but no evidence of a strong association with Executive Function or Memory. Benefits on General Ability ranged from a 0.109 (1-6 months) to 0.301 (>12 months) standardized beta coefficient difference compared to those not breastfed. Results indicate clear cognitive benefits of breastfeeding but that these do not generalize to all measured domains, with implications for public health policy as it pertains to nutrition during infancy.

Associations between frontal lobe structure, parent-reported obstructive sleep disordered breathing and childhood behavior in the ABCD dataset

Parents frequently report behavioral problems among children who snore. Our understanding of the relationship between symptoms of obstructive sleep disordered breathing (oSDB) and childhood behavioral problems associated with brain structural alterations is limited. Here, we examine the associations between oSDB symptoms, behavioral measures such as inattention, and brain morphometry in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study comprising 10,140 preadolescents. We observe that parent-reported symptoms of oSDB are associated with composite and domain-specific problem behaviors measured by parent responses to the Child Behavior Checklist. Alterations of brain structure demonstrating the strongest negative associations with oSDB symptoms are within the frontal lobe. The relationships between oSDB symptoms and behavioral measures are mediated by significantly smaller volumes of multiple frontal lobe regions. These results provide population-level evidence for an association between regional structural alterations in cortical gray matter and problem behaviors reported in children with oSDB.

Associations Between Neighborhood Disadvantage, Resting-State Functional Connectivity, and Behavior in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study: The Moderating Role of Positive Family and School Environments

BACKGROUND

Neighborhood disadvantage has consistently been associated with mental health and cognitive function, in addition to alterations in brain function and connectivity. However, positive environmental influences may buffer these effects. The aim of this study was to examine the association between neighborhood disadvantage and resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC), the moderating role of positive parenting and school environment, and relationships between disadvantage-associated rsFC patterns and mental health and cognition.

METHODS

In this preregistered study, we tested this hypothesis in a large sample of 7618 children (aged 9-10 years) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. Specifically, we analyzed the relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and system-level FC. We also tested whether positive family and school environmental factors and sex moderated effects. Finally, we investigated multivariate relationships between disadvantage-associated rsFC patterns and cognition and mental health.

RESULTS

Disadvantage was associated with widespread alterations in FC across both higher-order (e.g., default mode network and dorsal attention network) and sensorimotor functional systems, some of which were moderated by positive environments. Implicated connections showed multivariate associations with behavior, whereby disadvantage-associated rsFC was generally associated with worse cognition and mental health. Disadvantage-associated connections also predicted variation in cognitive scores using machine learning models.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings shed light on potential mechanisms (i.e., alteration of neural circuitry) through which neighborhood disadvantage may affect youth cognition and mental well-being. This work highlights the importance of positive family and school environments in mitigating some of these effects.

Caffeine exposure in utero is associated with structural brain alterations and deleterious neurocognitive outcomes in 9-10 year old children

Caffeine, a very widely used and potent neuromodulator, easily crosses the placental barrier, but relatively little is known about the long-term impact of gestational caffeine exposure (GCE) on neurodevelopment. Here, we leverage magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data, collected from a very large sample of 9157 children, aged 9-10 years, as part of the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development^sm (ABCD ®) study, to investigate brain structural outcomes at 27 major fiber tracts as a function of GCE. Significant relationships between GCE and fractional anisotropy (FA) measures in the inferior fronto-occipito fasciculus and corticospinal tract of the left hemisphere (IFOF-LH; CST-LH) were detected via mixed effects binomial regression. We further investigated the interaction between these fiber tracts, GCE, cognitive measures (working memory, task efficiency), and psychopathology measures (externalization, internalization, somatization, and neurodevelopment). GCE was associated with poorer outcomes on all measures of psychopathology but had negligible effect on cognitive measures. Higher FA values in both fiber tracts were associated with decreased neurodevelopmental problems and improved performance on both cognitive tasks. We also identified a decreased association between FA in the CST-LH and task efficiency in the GCE group. These findings suggest that GCE can lead to future neurodevelopmental complications and that this occurs, in part, through alteration of the microstructure of critical fiber tracts such as the IFOF-LH and CST-LH. These data suggest that current guidelines regarding limiting caffeine intake during pregnancy may require some recalibration.

The ABCD study: understanding the development of risk for mental and physical health outcomes

Following in the footsteps of other large "population neuroscience" studies, the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development℠ (ABCD) study is the largest in the U.S. assessing brain development. The study is examining approximately 11,875 youth from 21 sites from age 9 to 10 for approximately ten years into young adulthood. The ABCD Study® has completed recruitment for the baseline sample generally using a multi-stage probability sample including a stratified random sample of schools. The dataset has a wealth of measured attributes of youths and their environment, including neuroimaging, cognitive, biospecimen, behavioral, youth self-report and parent self-report metrics, and environmental measures. The initial goal of the ABCD Study was to examine risk and resiliency factors associated with the development of substance use, but the project has expanded far beyond this initial set of questions and will also greatly inform our understanding of the contributions of biospecimens (e.g., pubertal hormones), neural alterations, and environmental factors to the development of both healthy behavior and brain function as well as risk for poor mental and physical outcomes. This review outlines how the ABCD Study was designed to elucidate factors associated with the development of negative mental and physical health outcomes and will provide a selective overview of results emerging from the ABCD Study. Such emerging data includes initial validation of new instruments, important new information about the prevalence and correlates of mental health challenges in middle childhood, and promising data regarding neural correlates of both healthy and disordered behavior. In addition, we will discuss the challenges and opportunities to understanding both healthy development and the emergence of risk from ABCD Study data. Finally, we will overview the future directions of this large undertaking and the ways in which it will shape our understanding of the development of risk for poor mental and physical health outcomes.

Disentangling vulnerability, state and trait features of neurocognitive impairments in depression

Depression is a debilitating disorder that often starts manifesting in early childhood and peaks in onset during adolescence. Neurocognitive impairments have emerged as clinically important characteristics of depression, but it remains controversial which domains specifically index pre-existing vulnerability, state-related or trait-related markers. Here, we disentangled these effects by analysing the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development dataset (n = 4626). Using information of participants' current and past mental disorders, as well as family mental health history, we identified low-risk healthy (n = 2100), high-risk healthy (n = 2023), remitted depressed (n = 401) and currently depressed children (n = 102). Factor analysis of 11 cognitive variables was performed to elucidate latent structure and canonical correlation analyses conducted to probe regional brain volumes reliably associated with the cognitive factors. Bayesian model comparison of various a priori hypotheses differing in how low-risk healthy, high-risk healthy, remitted depressed and currently depressed children performed in various cognitive domains was performed. Factor analysis revealed three domains: language and reasoning, cognitive flexibility and memory recall. Deficits in language and reasoning ability, as well as in volumes of associated regions such as the middle temporal and superior frontal gyrus, represented state- and trait-related markers of depression but not pre-existing vulnerability. In contrast, there was no compelling evidence of impairments in other domains. These findings-although cross-sectional and specific to 9-10-year-old children-might have important clinical implications, suggesting that cognitive dysfunction may not be useful targets of preventive interventions. Depressed patients, even after remission, might also benefit from less commonly used treatments such as cognitive remediation therapy.

Prediction of neurocognition in youth from resting state fMRI

Difficulties with higher-order cognitive functions in youth are a potentially important vulnerability factor for the emergence of problematic behaviors and a range of psychopathologies. This study examined 2013 9-10 year olds in the first data release from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development 21-site consortium study in order to identify resting state functional connectivity patterns that predict individual-differences in three domains of higher-order cognitive functions: General Ability, Speed/Flexibility, and Learning/Memory. For General Ability scores in particular, we observed consistent cross-site generalizability, with statistically significant predictions in 14 out of 15 held-out sites. These results survived several tests for robustness including replication in split-half analysis and in a low head motion subsample. We additionally found that connectivity patterns involving task control networks and default mode network were prominently implicated in predicting differences in General Ability across participants. These findings demonstrate that resting state connectivity can be leveraged to produce generalizable markers of neurocognitive functioning. Additionally, they highlight the importance of task control-default mode network interconnections as a major locus of individual differences in cognitive functioning in early adolescence.

Direct and Indirect Associations of Widespread Individual Differences in Brain White Matter Microstructure With Executive Functioning and General and Specific Dimensions of Psychopathology in Children

BACKGROUND

Executive functions (EFs) are important partly because they are associated with risk for psychopathology and substance use problems. Because EFs have been linked to white matter microstructure, we tested the prediction that fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) in white matter tracts are associated with EFs and dimensions of psychopathology in children younger than the age of widespread psychoactive substance use.

METHODS

Parent symptom ratings, EF test scores, and diffusion tensor parameters from 8588 9- to 10-year-olds in the ABCD Study (Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study) were used.

RESULTS

A latent factor derived from EF test scores was significantly associated with specific conduct problems and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder problems, with dimensions defined in a bifactor model. Furthermore, EFs were associated with FA and MD in 16 of 17 bilateral white matter tracts (range: β = .05; SE = .17; through β = -.31; SE = .06). Neither FA nor MD was directly associated with psychopathology, but there were significant indirect associations via EFs of both FA (range: β = .01; SE = .01; through β = -.09; SE = .02) and MD (range: β = .01; SE = .01; through β = .09; SE = .02) with both specific conduct problems and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in all tracts except the forceps minor.

CONCLUSIONS

EFs in children are inversely associated with diffusion tensor imaging measures in nearly all tracts throughout the brain. Furthermore, variance in diffusion tensor measures that is shared with EFs is indirectly shared with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and conduct problems.

Compulsivity is linked to reduced adolescent development of goal-directed control and frontostriatal functional connectivity

A characteristic of adaptive behavior is its goal-directed nature. An ability to act in a goal-directed manner is progressively refined during development, but this refinement can be impacted by the emergence of psychiatric disorders. Disorders of compulsivity have been framed computationally as a deficit in model-based control, and have been linked also to abnormal frontostriatal connectivity. However, the developmental trajectory of model-based control, including an interplay between its maturation and an emergence of compulsivity, has not been characterized. Availing of a large sample of healthy adolescents (n = 569) aged 14 to 24 y, we show behaviorally that over the course of adolescence there is a within-person increase in model-based control, and this is more pronounced in younger participants. Using a bivariate latent change score model, we provide evidence that the presence of higher compulsivity traits is associated with an atypical profile of this developmental maturation in model-based control. Resting-state fMRI data from a subset of the behaviorally assessed subjects (n = 230) revealed that compulsivity is associated with a less pronounced change of within-subject developmental remodeling of functional connectivity, specifically between the striatum and a frontoparietal network. Thus, in an otherwise clinically healthy population sample, in early development, individual differences in compulsivity are linked to the developmental trajectory of model-based control and a remodeling of frontostriatal connectivity.

Deep learning identifies morphological determinants of sex differences in the pre-adolescent brain

The application of data-driven deep learning to identify sex differences in developing brain structures of pre-adolescents has heretofore not been accomplished. Here, the approach identifies sex differences by analyzing the minimally processed MRIs of the first 8144 participants (age 9 and 10 years) recruited by the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. The identified pattern accounted for confounding factors (i.e., head size, age, puberty development, socioeconomic status) and comprised cerebellar (corpus medullare, lobules III, IV/V, and VI) and subcortical (pallidum, amygdala, hippocampus, parahippocampus, insula, putamen) structures. While these have been individually linked to expressing sex differences, a novel discovery was that their grouping accurately predicted the sex in individual pre-adolescents. Another novelty was relating differences specific to the cerebellum to pubertal development. Finally, we found that reducing the pattern to a single score not only accurately predicted sex but also correlated with cognitive behavior linked to working memory. The predictive power of this score and the constellation of identified brain structures provide evidence for sex differences in pre-adolescent neurodevelopment and may augment understanding of sex-specific vulnerability or resilience to psychiatric disorders and presage sex-linked learning disabilities.

Executive function deficits mediate the association between very preterm birth and behavioral problems at school-age

BACKGROUND & AIMS

Children and adolescents born very preterm are at increased risk to develop executive function deficits and to suffer from social, emotional and attentional problems. This study investigated whether executive function deficits contribute to behavioral problems in children and adolescents born very preterm at school-age.

STUDY DESIGN

Thirty-eight children and adolescents born very preterm and 41 age-matched term-born peers were assessed at a mean age of 12.9 (±1.8) years with a comprehensive battery of executive function tests, including working memory, planning, cognitive flexibility, and verbal fluency. A composite score was calculated to reflect overall executive function abilities. To assess behavioral problems, parents completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Mediation analysis was applied to quantify the effect of preterm birth on behavioral problems with executive function abilities as a mediating variable.

RESULTS

Executive function abilities were poorer in the very preterm compared to the term-born group (d = 0.62, p = .005) and the parents of very preterm children reported more behavioral problems on the SDQ Total Difficulties Score (d = 0.54, p = .01). The effect of birth status on behavioral problems was significantly mediated by executive function abilities while adjusting for age at assessment, sex, and socioeconomic status (F(2, 76) = 6.42, p = .002, R² = 0.14).

CONCLUSION

Results from this study suggest that the increase in behavioral symptoms in very preterm children at school-age compared to term-born peers may partly be explained by their executive function deficits. These findings highlight the importance of continuously monitoring the development of children born very preterm to provide optimal care as they grow up.

Behavioral and Neural Signatures of Working Memory in Childhood

Working memory function changes across development and varies across individuals. The patterns of behavior and brain function that track individual differences in working memory during human development, however, are not well understood. Here, we establish associations between working memory, other cognitive abilities, and functional MRI (fMRI) activation in data from over 11,500 9- to 10-year-old children (both sexes) enrolled in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, an ongoing longitudinal study in the United States. Behavioral analyses reveal robust relationships between working memory, short-term memory, language skills, and fluid intelligence. Analyses relating out-of-scanner working memory performance to memory-related fMRI activation in an emotional n-back task demonstrate that frontoparietal activity during a working memory challenge indexes working memory performance. This relationship is domain specific, such that fMRI activation related to emotion processing during the emotional n-back task, inhibitory control during a stop-signal task (SST), and reward processing during a monetary incentive delay (MID) task does not track memory abilities. Together, these results inform our understanding of individual differences in working memory in childhood and lay the groundwork for characterizing the ways in which they change across adolescence.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Working memory is a foundational cognitive ability that changes over time and varies across individuals. Here, we analyze data from over 11,500 9- to 10-year-olds to establish relationships between working memory, other cognitive abilities, and frontoparietal brain activity during a working memory challenge, but not during other cognitive challenges. Our results lay the groundwork for assessing longitudinal changes in working memory and predicting later academic and other real-world outcomes.

Parental and social factors in relation to child psychopathology, behavior, and cognitive function

Parental and social factors have long-term impact on the neurodevelopment of offspring, but tend to highly covary with each other. Thus, it is difficult to parse out which parental and social factor contributes most to neurodevelopmental outcomes. This study aimed to assess clusters of parental and social factors associated with child psychopathology, behavioral problems, and cognition. This study employed the data of 11,875 children (9 to 11 years) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed on 39 environmental measures and 30 child behavior and cognitive measures separately to identify clusters of parental and social factors and clusters of child psychopathology, behaviour, and cognition. Regression analysis was used to examine independent effects of each cluster of parental and social factors on child psychopathology, behavioral problems, and cognition. Greater Parent Psychopathology cluster was associated with greater Child Psychopathology cluster. Moreover, greater Socioeconomic Status cluster was associated with greater child General Cognition and Executive Function but less Behavioral Inhibition clusters. Greater Proximal Social Environment and Interaction cluster were associated with less child Impulsive Behavior and Behavioral Inhibition, but greater Behavioral Activation cluster. The environmental clusters related to birth outcomes, maternal tobacco, and drug use were not significantly related to child psychopathology, behavior, and cognition. Our findings suggest that socioeconomic status, parental psychopathology, and social environment and interactions are the strongest risks for behavioral problems and cognitive performance in a general child population. Intervention programs should target modifiable factors within these domains.

Delineating and validating higher-order dimensions of psychopathology in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study

Hierarchical dimensional systems of psychopathology promise more informative descriptions for understanding risk and predicting outcome than traditional diagnostic systems, but it is unclear how many major dimensions they should include. We delineated the hierarchy of childhood and adult psychopathology and validated it against clinically relevant measures. Participants were 9987 9- and 10-year-old children and their parents from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. Factor analyses of items from the Child Behavior Checklist and Adult Self-Report were run to delineate hierarchies of dimensions. We examined the familial aggregation of the psychopathology dimensions, and the ability of different factor solutions to account for risk factors, real-world functioning, cognitive functioning, and physical and mental health service utilization. A hierarchical structure with a general psychopathology ('p') factor at the apex and five specific factors (internalizing, somatoform, detachment, neurodevelopmental, and externalizing) emerged in children. Five similar dimensions emerged also in the parents. Child and parent p-factors correlated highly (r = 0.61, p < 0.001), and smaller but significant correlations emerged for convergent dimensions between parents and children after controlling for p-factors (r = 0.09-0.21, p < 0.001). A model with child p-factor alone explained mental health service utilization (R² = 0.23, p < 0.001), but up to five dimensions provided incremental validity to account for developmental risk and current functioning in children (R² = 0.03-0.19, p < 0.001). In this first investigation comprehensively mapping the psychopathology hierarchy in children and adults, we delineated a hierarchy of higher-order dimensions associated with a range of clinically relevant validators. These findings hold important implications for psychiatric nosology and future research in this sample.

Methodological Advances in Leveraging Neuroimaging Datasets in Adolescent Substance Use Research

Purpose of Review

Recent innovations in the statistical analysis of neuroimaging data related to adolescent substance use are highlighted. Going beyond assumptions of homogeneity in small studies of regional localization, the focus is on novel approaches that integrate across regions of the brain and levels of analysis in order to detect individual differences in use along with antecedents and consequences.

Recent Findings

Three analysis approaches are considered. Multimodal approaches like the construct-network framework combine neural, behavioral (including cognitive), and self-report indicators to create comprehensive representations of risk factors for adolescent substance use. Machine learning approaches link adolescent substance use to complex patterns of brain activity detected using prediction-focused algorithms. Person-specific approaches reflect heterogeneity in functional brain connectivity associated with adolescent substance use.

Summary

When applied to specialized datasets, multimodal, machine learning, and person-specific approaches have significant potential to provide unique insights into the neural processes underlying adolescent substance use.