Sex-Specific Vulnerability to Externalizing Problems: Sensitivity to Early Stress and Nucleus Accumbens Activation Over Adolescence.

Background: Exposure and sensitivity to early-life stress (ELS) are related to increased risk for psychopathology in adolescence. While cross-sectional studies have reported blunted nucleus accumbens (NAcc) activation in the context of these associations, researchers have not yet assessed the effects of ELS on developmental trajectories of activation. We examined whether trajectories are affected by stress and the moderating role of biological sex in predicting vulnerability to symptoms of psychopathology.

Exploring sex differences in trajectories of pubertal development and mental health following early adversity.

Despite evidence that early life adversity (ELA) affects mental health in adolescence, we know little about sex differences in how distinct dimensions of adversity affect development and their corresponding effects on mental health. In this three-wave longitudinal study, 209 participants (118 females; ages 9-13 years at baseline) provided objective (salivary hormones, BMI, age of menarche) and subjective (perceived gonadal and adrenal status) measures of puberty and physical development, and reported on levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms at all timepoints. Participants also reported lifetime exposure to three distinct types of ELA: deprivation, threat, and unpredictability.

The default mode network is associated with changes in internalizing and externalizing problems differently in adolescent boys and girls.

Internalizing and externalizing problems that emerge during adolescence differentially increase boys' and girls' risk for developing psychiatric disorders. It is not clear, however, whether there are sex differences in the intrinsic functional architecture of the brain that underlie changes in the severity of internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescents. Using resting-state fMRI data and self-reports of behavioral problems obtained from 128 adolescents (73 females; 9-14 years old) at two timepoints, we conducted multivoxel pattern analysis to identify resting-state functional connectivity markers at baseline that predict changes in the severity of internalizing and externalizing problems in boys and girls 2 years later.

Negative caregiving and stress reactivity moderate the relation between early life stress and externalizing in adolescence.

Exposure to early life stress (ELS) is common and has been implicated in the development of psychopathology; importantly, however, many individuals who experience ELS do not develop emotional or behavioral difficulties. Prior research implicates stress exposure, negative caregiving behaviors, and patterns of physiological reactivity in predicting psychological well-being; however, the precise factors that contribute to resilience versus vulnerability to the adverse effects of stress exposures are not well understood. In a longitudinal study of adolescents (N = 120) assessed at three timepoints approximately every 2 years beginning at the ages of 913 years, we examined the roles of autonomic reactivity to social stress (assessed through skin conductance during the Trier Social Stress Task) and negative caregiving behaviors as moderators of the association between exposure to ELS and internalizing and externalizing symptoms.

Early life stress, systemic inflammation, and neural correlates of implicit emotion regulation in adolescents.

Exposure to early life stress (ELS) increases the risk for developing psychopathology; however, the mechanisms underlying this association are not clear. In this study we examined systemic inflammation as a pathway that may link exposure to stress to altered neural correlates of implicit emotion regulation in adolescents with varying levels of exposure to ELS (n = 83; 52 females, 31 males; 15.63 ± 1.

Sex-specific vulnerability to depressive symptoms across adolescence and during the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of the cingulum bundle.

Background: Females are at higher risk for developing depression during adolescence than are males, particularly during exposure to stressors like the COVID-19 pandemic. Examining structural connections between brain regions involved in executive functioning may advance our understanding of sex biases in stress and depression. Here, we examined the role of the cingulum bundle in differentiating trajectories of depressive symptoms in males and females across adolescence and during the pandemic.

Early Life Stress and Neurodevelopment in Adolescence: Implications for Risk and Adaptation.

An alarming high proportion of youth experience at least one kind of stressor in childhood and/or adolescence. Exposure to early life stress is associated with increased risk for psychopathology, accelerated biological aging, and poor physical health; however, it is important to recognize that not all youth who experience such stress go on to develop difficulties. In fact, resilience, or positive adaptation in the face of adversity, is relatively common.

An exploration of dimensions of early adversity and the development of functional brain network connectivity during adolescence: Implications for trajectories of internalizing symptoms.

Different dimensions of adversity may affect mental health through distinct neurobiological mechanisms, though current supporting evidence consists largely of cross-sectional associations between threat or deprivation and fronto-limbic circuitry. In this exploratory three-wave longitudinal study spanning ages 9-19 years, we examined the associations between experiences of unpredictability, threat, and deprivation with the development of functional connectivity within and between three brain networks implicated in psychopathology: the salience (SAL), default mode (DMN), and fronto-parietal (FPN) networks, and tested whether network trajectories moderated associations between adversity and changes in internalizing symptoms. Connectivity decreased with age on average; these changes differed by dimension of adversity.

Associations of Irritability With Functional Connectivity of Amygdala and Nucleus Accumbens in Adolescents and Young Adults With ADHD.

Objective: Irritability is a common characteristic in ADHD. We examined whether dysfunction in neural connections supporting threat and reward processing was related to irritability in adolescents and young adults with ADHD.

Method: We used resting-state fMRI to assess connectivity of amygdala and nucleus accumbens seeds in those with ADHD ( = 34) and an age- and gender-matched typically-developing comparison group ( = 34).

White Matter Microstructural Properties of the Cerebellar Peduncles Predict Change in Symptoms of Psychopathology in Adolescent Girls.

Internalizing symptoms typically emerge in adolescence and are more prevalent in females than in males; in contrast, externalizing symptoms typically emerge in childhood and are more commonly observed in males. Previous research has implicated aspects of white matter organization, including fractional anisotropy (FA), of cerebral tracts in both internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Although the cerebellum has been posited to integrate limbic and cortical regions, its role in psychopathology is not well understood.

Testing a Developmental Model of Positive Parenting, Amygdala-Subgenual Anterior Cingulate Cortex Connectivity, and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background: Neurobiological measures may inform our understanding of individual differences in adolescents' general risk for and resilience to depressive symptoms, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. We tested a developmental model linking variation in amygdala-subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) resting-state connectivity to perceived parenting experiences earlier in adolescence, to concurrent depressive symptoms before the pandemic, and to subsequent depressive symptoms during the pandemic.

Methods: We used data from a longitudinal study that included three waves ( = 214 adolescents; ages 9-15 years at time 1 [T1], 11-17 years at T2, and 12-19 years during the pandemic at T3).

Heart rate variability moderates the effects of COVID-19-related stress and family adversity on emotional problems in adolescents: Testing models of differential susceptibility and diathesis stress.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a unique period of stress, uncertainty, and adversity that will have significant implications for adolescent mental health. Nevertheless, stress and adversity related to COVID-19 may be more consequential for some adolescents' mental health than for others. We examined whether heart rate variability (HRV) indicated differential susceptibility to mental health difficulties associated with COVID-19 stress and COVID-19 family adversity.

Neural responses to implicit forms of peer influence in young adults.

Young adults are acutely sensitive to peer influences. Differences have been found in neural sensitivity to peer influences, such as seeing peer ratings on social media. The present study aimed to identify patterns of neural sensitivity to peer influences, which involve more subtle cues that shape preferences and behaviors.

Early Life Stress Predicts Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Mediating Role of Perceived Stress.

Background: Exposure to early life stress (ELS) is alarmingly prevalent and has been linked to the high rates of depression documented in adolescence. Researchers have theorized that ELS may increase adolescents' vulnerability or reactivity to the effects of subsequent stressors, placing them at higher risk for developing symptoms of depression.

Methods: We tested this formulation in a longitudinal study by assessing levels of stress and depression during the COVID-19 pandemic in a sample of adolescents from the San Francisco Bay Area ( = 109; 43 male; ages 13-20 years) who had been characterized 3-7 years earlier ( = 5.

Greater age-related changes in white matter morphometry following early life stress: Associations with internalizing problems in adolescence.

Early life stress (ELS) is associated with increased risk for internalizing disorders and variations in gray matter development. It is unclear, however, whether ELS affects normative age-related changes in white matter (WM) morphology, and if such maturational differences are associated with risk for internalizing psychopathology. We conducted comprehensive interviews in a cross-sectional sample of young adolescents (N = 156; 89 F; Ages 9-14) to assess lifetime exposure to stress and objective cumulative ELS severity.

Sex differences in pubertal associations with fronto-accumbal white matter morphometry: Implications for understanding sensitivity to reward and punishment.

Researchers have reported sex-differentiated maturation of white matter (WM) during puberty. It is not clear, however, whether such distinctions contribute to documented sex differences in sensitivity to reward and punishment during adolescence. Given the role of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and nucleus accumbens (NAcc) in reward and punishment-related behaviors, we tested in a cross-sectional study whether males and females (N = 156, 89 females; ages 9-14 years) differ in the association between pubertal stage and fixel-based morphometry of WM fibers connecting the OFC and NAcc (i.

Higher Executive Control Network Coherence Buffers Against Puberty-Related Increases in Internalizing Symptoms During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background: Early pubertal maturation has been posited to be a biopsychosocial risk factor for the onset of internalizing psychopathology in adolescence; further, early-maturing youths exhibit heightened reactivity to stressful events. School closures and enforced social distancing, as well as health and financial uncertainties, during the COVID-19 pandemic are expected to adversely affect mental health in youths, particularly adolescents who are already at risk for experiencing emotional difficulties. The executive control network (ECN) supports cognitive processes required to successfully navigate novel challenges and regulate emotions in stressful contexts.

Neural connectivity biotypes: associations with internalizing problems throughout adolescence.

Background: Neurophysiological patterns may distinguish which youth are at risk for the well-documented increase in internalizing symptoms during adolescence. Adolescents with internalizing problems exhibit altered resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) of brain regions involved in socio-affective processing. Whether connectivity-based biotypes differentiate adolescents' levels of internalizing problems remains unknown.

Research Review: Brain network connectivity and the heterogeneity of depression in adolescence - a precision mental health perspective.

Background: Adolescence is a period of high risk for the onset of depression, characterized by variability in symptoms, severity, and course. During adolescence, the neurocircuitry implicated in depression continues to mature, suggesting that it is an important period for intervention. Reflecting the recent emergence of 'precision mental health' - a person-centered approach to identifying, preventing, and treating psychopathology - researchers have begun to document associations between heterogeneity in features of depression and individual differences in brain circuitry, most frequently in resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC).

Girls' brain structural connectivity in late adolescence relates to history of depression symptoms.

Background: Girls' depressive symptoms typically increase in adolescence, with individual differences in course and severity being key risk factors for impaired emotional functioning in young adulthood. Given the continued brain white matter (WM) maturation that occurs in adolescence, the present study tested whether structural connectivity patterns in late adolescence are associated with variation in the course of depression symptom severity throughout adolescence.

Method: Participants were girls (N = 115) enrolled in a multiyear prospective cohort study of risk for depression.

Support, information, and integration of genetics for children with congenital lower limb deficiencies in British Columbia, Canada.

Objectives: Children and families affected by congenital limb deficiencies (CLD) require a unique level of emotional support from diagnosis through to adolescence. The following study aims to collect data on Canadian paediatric patients affected by a CLD followed at BC Children's Hospital (BCCH), Department of Orthopaedics.

Methods: Parents of children with a CLD were asked to complete a written questionnaire examining their experiences.

Girls' pubertal development is associated with white matter microstructure in late adolescence.

Patterns of pubertal maturation have been linked to vulnerability for emotion dysregulation disorders in girls, as well as white matter (WM) development, suggestive of a potential mechanism between pubertal maturation and emotional health. Because pubertal processes begin at varying ages (i.e.

Modulation of reward-related neural activation on sensation seeking across development.

Sensation seeking is a personality construct associated with an increased propensity for engaging in risk-taking. Associations with deleterious outcomes ranging from mental health impairments to increased mortality rates highlight important public health concerns related to this construct. Although some have suggested that increased neural responsivity to reward within the ventral striatum (e.

An integrative model of the maturation of cognitive control.

Brains systems undergo unique and specific dynamic changes at the cellular, circuit, and systems level that underlie the transition to adult-level cognitive control. We integrate literature from these different levels of analyses to propose a novel model of the brain basis of the development of cognitive control. The ability to consistently exert cognitive control improves into adulthood as the flexible integration of component processes, including inhibitory control, performance monitoring, and working memory, increases.