Anxiety may alter the role of fronto-striatal circuitry in adolescent risky decision-making.

Background: Anxiety disorders often emerge in adolescence and are associated with risk aversion. Risk aversion conflicts with the typical adolescent approach-motivated phenotype and can interfere with learning and contribute to symptom maintenance.

Methods: We investigated the neural and behavioral correlates of risk avoidance in a diverse sample of adolescents (N = 137; M = 11.

Characterizing trajectories of anxiety, depression, and criminal offending in male adolescents over the 5 years following their first arrest.

Youth in the juvenile justice system evince high rates of mental health symptoms, including anxiety and depression. How these symptom profiles change after first contact with the justice system and - importantly - how they are related to re-offending remains unclear. Here, we use latent growth curve modeling to characterize univariate and multivariate growth of anxiety, depression, and re-offending in 1216 male adolescents over 5 years following their first arrest.

Impact of autism genetic risk on brain connectivity: a mechanism for the female protective effect.

The biological mechanisms underlying the greater prevalence of autism spectrum disorder in males than females remain poorly understood. One hypothesis posits that this female protective effect arises from genetic load for autism spectrum disorder differentially impacting male and female brains. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the impact of cumulative genetic risk for autism spectrum disorder on functional brain connectivity in a balanced sample of boys and girls with autism spectrum disorder and typically developing boys and girls (127 youth, ages 8-17).

Neural correlates of emotional reactivity and regulation in youth with and without anxiety.

Background: Youth with anxiety disorders struggle with managing emotions relative to peers, but the neural basis of this difference has not been examined.

Methods: Youth (M  = 13.6; range = 8-17) with (n = 37) and without (n = 24) anxiety disorders completed a cognitive reappraisal task while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Exploring Disproportionate Minority Contact in the Juvenile Justice System Over the Year Following First Arrest.

Minority youth are disproportionately represented in the juvenile justice system. Examining how racial disparities relate to biased entry into and continued involvement with the system, while accounting for past and current offending, can provide context about the mechanisms behind overrepresentation. 1,216 adolescents were examined after first arrest to explore associations between race and history of self-reported offending, likelihood of formal processing, and likelihood of rearrest.