Neurobiological sensitivity to unpredictable threat and familial risk for the internalizing and externalizing spectra in adolescents

Neural response to monetary and social rewards and familial risk for psychopathology in adolescent females

BACKGROUND

Adolescence is a key developmental period for the emergence of psychopathology. Reward-related brain activity increases across adolescence and has been identified as a potential neurobiological mechanism of risk for different forms of psychopathology. The reward positivity (RewP) is an event-related potential component that indexes reward system activation and has been associated with both concurrent and family history of psychopathology. However, it is unclear whether the RewP is also associated with higher-order psychopathology subfactors and whether this relationship is present across different types of reward.

METHODS

In a sample of 193 adolescent females and a biological parent, the present study examined the association between adolescent and parental psychopathology subfactors and adolescent RewP to monetary and social reward.

RESULTS

Results indicated that the adolescent and parental distress subfactors were negatively associated with the adolescent domain-general RewP. The adolescent and parental positive mood subfactors were negatively associated with the adolescent domain-general and domain-specific monetary RewP, respectively. Conversely, the adolescent and parental fear/obsessions subfactors were positively associated with the adolescent domain-general RewP. The associations between parental and adolescent psychopathology subfactors and the adolescent RewP were independent of each other.

CONCLUSIONS

The RewP in adolescent females is associated with both concurrent and parental psychopathology symptoms, suggesting that it indexes both severity and risk for higher-order subfactors.

Intolerance of uncertainty and psychophysiological reactivity in anticipation of unpredictable threat in youth

OBJECTIVE

Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is a key transdiagnostic feature of internalizing psychopathology. An increasing body of research suggests that IU is associated with increased psychophysiological reactivity in anticipation of unpredictable threat. However, most studies examining the psychophysiological correlates of IU have been conducted in adults. There is a critical need to understand the relationship between IU and psychophysiological reactivity in anticipation of unpredictable threat during adolescence, a key developmental period associated with increased exploration of situations with uncertain outcomes. Thus, the present study examined the association between (1) youth IU and (2) parental IU (as an indicator of risk) in relation to youth defensive motivation (startle reflex) and attention (startle probe N100 and P300) in anticipation of unpredictable threat.

METHODS

The sample included 193 13 to 22-year-old (M = 17.33, SD = 1.97) females and a biological parent. Participants and their parent completed a self-report measure of prospective and inhibitory IU. Youth startle potentiation, probe N100 enhancement, and probe P300 suppression (indicating increased attention to threat) were measured in anticipation of predictable and unpredictable threat.

RESULTS

Youth prospective IU and inhibitory IU were not related to youth psychophysiological reactivity to predictable or unpredictable threat. Greater parental prospective IU was associated with greater youth startle potentiation and probe N100 enhancement in anticipation of unpredictable threat.

CONCLUSION

The present study suggests that parental IU, but not concurrent IU, is associated with heightened defensive motivation and attentional engagement in anticipation of unpredictable threat in youth.