Regulatory Control and Depression in Adolescents: Findings from Neuroimaging and Neuropsychological Research

The role of perceived threats on mental health, social, and neurocognitive youth outcomes: A multicontextual, person-centered approach

Perceived threat in youth's environments can elevate risk for mental health, social, and neurocognitive difficulties throughout the lifespan. However, few studies examine variability in youth's perceptions of threat across multiple contexts or evaluate outcomes across multiple domains, ultimately limiting our understanding of specific risks associated with perceived threats in different contexts. This study examined associations between perceived threat in youth's neighborhood, school, and family contexts at ages 9-10 and mental health, social, and neurocognitive outcomes at ages 11-12 within a large US cohort (N = 5525) enrolled in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive DevelopmentSM Study (ABCD Study®). Latent profile analysis revealed four distinct profiles: Low Threat in all contexts, Elevated Family Threat, Elevated Neighborhood Threat, and Elevated Threat in all contexts. Mixed-effect models and post hoc pairwise comparisons showed that youth in Elevated Threat profile had poorer mental health and social outcomes 2 years later. Youth in the Elevated Family Threat profile uniquely showed increased disruptive behavior symptoms, whereas youth in the Elevated Neighborhood Threat profile predominantly displayed increased sleep problems and worse neurocognitive outcomes 2 years later. Together, findings highlight the importance of considering perceptions of threat across multiple contexts to achieve a more nuanced developmental picture.

Deliberative and Affective Risky Decisions in Teenagers: Different Associations with Maladaptive Psychological Functioning and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation?

Using network analysis, we investigated the relationships between maladaptive psychological functioning, difficulties in emotion regulation, and risk-taking in deliberative and affective behavioral decisions. Participants (103 adolescents aged between 13 and 19 years, 62% boys) took the Cold (deliberative) and Hot (affective) versions of the Columbia Card Task and completed the Youth Self-Report (YSR) and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS). In contrast to the view that risk propensity increases from preadolescence to middle adolescence and decreases at later ages, our study revealed no age-specific trend. YSR syndrome scales were significantly correlated with risk propensity, but only in the Cold version. The YSR Thought Problems scale was the most central node in the network, linking internalizing and externalizing problems with risk propensity in the Cold CCT. Lack of emotional Clarity was the only DERS consistently linked with risk-taking both in correlation and network analyses. Maladaptive psychological functioning and difficulties in emotion regulation were linked with risk propensity in affective risky decisions through deliberative processes. The statistical significance of direct and indirect effects was further examined using nonparametric mediation analyses. Our study highlights the role of cognitive factors that in each variable set might account for risk-taking in teenagers.

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

The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study is poised to be the largest single-cohort long-term longitudinal study of neurodevelopment and child health in the United States. Baseline data on N= 4521 children aged 9-10 were released for public access on November 2, 2018. In this paper we performed principal component analyses of the neurocognitive assessments administered to the baseline sample. The neurocognitive battery included seven measures from the NIH Toolbox as well as five other tasks. We implemented a Bayesian Probabilistic Principal Components Analysis (BPPCA) model that incorporated nesting of subjects within families and within data collection sites. We extracted varimax-rotated component scores from a three-component model and associated these scores with parent-rated Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) internalizing, externalizing, and stress reactivity. We found evidence for three broad components that encompass general cognitive ability, executive function, and learning/memory. These were significantly associated with CBCL scores in a differential manner but with small effect sizes. These findings set the stage for longitudinal analysis of neurocognitive and psychopathological data from the ABCD cohort as they age into the period of maximal adolescent risk-taking.

Role of orbitofrontal sulcogyral pattern on lifetime cannabis use and depressive symptoms

Orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) sulcogyral patterns are stable morphological variations established early in life. They consist of three distinct pattern types, with Type III in particular being associated with poor regulatory control (e.g., high sensation seeking and negative emotionality, low constraint), which may confer risk for earlier onset of cannabis (CB) use and greater use in later life. The OFC sulcogyral pattern may therefore be a stable trait marker in understanding individual differences in substance-use vulnerability and associated affective disturbances in users. In a large multisite cross-sectional study, we compared OFC pattern type distribution between 128 healthy controls (HC) and 146 CB users. Within users (n=140), we explored the association between OFC pattern type and CB use level, and subsequently if level of CB use informed by OFC pattern type may mediate disturbances in affective tone, as indexed by depressive symptoms. While OFC pattern distribution did not distinguish between HC and CB groups, it informed greater lifetime use within users. Specifically, CB users with pattern Type III in the right OFC tended to use more CB over their lifetime, than did CB users with pattern Type I or II. Greater lifetime CB use was subsequently associated with higher depressive symptoms, such that it mediated an indirect association between right OFC pattern Type III and higher depressive symptoms. The present study provides evidence for neurobiological differences, specifically sulcogyral pattern of the OFC, to modulate level of CB use, which may subsequently influence the expression of depressive symptoms.

Disciplinary Practices, Metaparenting, and the Quality of Parent-Child Relationships in African-American, Mexican-American, and European-American Mothers

Coercive responses to children's behavior are well recognized to be problematic for children's adjustment. Less well understood is how parental social cognition is linked to discipline. In this study we sought to link metaparenting - parents' thoughts about their parenting - to the use of coercive discipline. We predicted that mothers who engaged in more metaparenting, thus reflecting more deliberate parenting, would use corporal punishment less frequently and instead engage in non-coercive discipline. We also expected that mothers who engaged in more metaparenting would report closer relationships with their children. In order to assess a diverse sample, data were collected from approximately equal numbers of African-American, European-American, and Mexican-American mothers. Participants included 113 mothers with target children in three age groups, ranging from 2 to 12 years. The results indicated reports of corporal punishment as well as non-coercive discipline did not significantly differ across child sex and child age groups, but did differ significantly across race/ethnicity. Reports of frequency of metaparenting also differed across racial/ethnic groups; African-American mothers reported more metaparenting than European-American mothers on three of four subscales. Metaparenting was significantly related to reports of the mother-child relationship but in the opposite direction than predicted. Based on these results, future research directions linking parental social cognition to discipline are proposed.