Positive and Negative Life Events in Association with Psychopathology: An Examination of Sex Differences in Early Adolescence.

Negative life events (NLEs) are associated with psychopathology in older adolescents and adults, particularly for women. However, less is known about the association between positive life events (PLEs) and psychopathology. This study examined associations between NLEs, PLEs, and their interaction, and sex differences in associations between PLEs and NLEs on internalizing and externalizing psychopathology. Youth completed interviews about NLEs and PLEs. Parents and youth reported on youth internalizing and externalizing symptoms. NLEs were positively associated with youth-reported depression and anxiety and parent-reported youth depression. Female youth had stronger positive associations between NLEs and youth-reported anxiety than male youth. Interactions between PLEs and NLEs were non-significant. Findings for NLEs and psychopathology are extended to earlier in development.

Measurement invariance of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) across race/ethnicity and sex in the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) study.

There are numerous studies examining differences in the experience of disorders and symptoms of psychopathology in adolescents across racial or ethnic groups and sex. Though there is substantial research exploring potential factors that may influence these differences, few studies have considered the potential contribution of measurement properties to these differences. Therefore, this study examined whether there are differences across racial or ethnic groups and sex in the measurement of psychopathology, assessed in mother-reported behavior of 9-11 year old youth from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study sample using updated Child Behavior Checklist scales (CBCL; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001). Tests of measurement invariance of the CBCL utilized the higher order factor structure identified by Michelini et al. (2019) using this same Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development cohort. The dimensions include internalizing, somatoform, detachment, externalizing, and neurodevelopmental problems. The configural model had a good-to-excellent fit on all subscales of the CBCL across racial or ethnic groups and sex. The metric and scalar models fit just as well as the configural models, indicating that the scales are measuring the same constructs across racial or ethnic groups and sex and are not influenced by measurement properties of items on the CBCL, although some high-severity response options were not endorsed for youth in all racial or ethnic groups. These findings support the use of the CBCL in research examining psychopathology in racially or ethnically diverse samples of youth. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Adolescents at risk for depression show increased white matter microstructure with age across diffuse areas of the brain.

Maternal history of depression is a strong predictor of depression in offspring and linked to structural and functional alterations in the developing brain. However, very little work has examined differences in white matter in adolescents at familial risk for depression. In a sample aged 9-14 (n = 117), we used tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) to examine differences in white matter microstructure between adolescents with (n = 42) and without (n = 75) maternal history of depression. Microstructure was indexed using fractional anisotropy (FA). Threshold-free cluster enhancement was applied and cluster maps were thresholded at whole-brain family-wise error < .05. There was no significant main effect of risk status on FA. However, there was a significant interaction between risk status and age, such that large and diffuse portions of the white matter skeleton showed relatively increased FA with age for youth with a maternal history of depression compared to those without. Most tracts identified by the interaction were robust to controlling for sex, youth internalizing, in-scanner motion, neighborhood SES, and intra-cranial volume, evidence that maternal depression is a unique predictor of white matter alterations in youth. Widespread increases in FA with age may correspond to a global pattern of accelerated brain maturation in youth at risk for depression.

The relationship between executive functioning and repetitive negative thinking in youth: A systematic review of the literature.

Repetitive negative thinking (RNT) and executive functioning (EF) deficits are each characteristic of many forms of youth psychopathology. Extensive work has examined the relationship between rumination, a form of RNT, and EF in adults. However, less is known about the relationship between RNT more broadly and EF in youth, for whom these constructs are developing and emerging. Here, we systematically and qualitatively reviewed 27 studies on the associations between EF (e.g., shifting, inhibition, working memory) and RNT (e.g., rumination, worry, obsessions) in youth. All forms of RNT were more commonly positively associated with questionnaire-reported EF problems in daily life, most frequently in the domain of shifting. Task-based assessments of EF were less consistently associated with RNT in youth, with no strong pattern of presence vs. absence of associations. Further, limited longitudinal work has been conducted on this topic to date. This review integrates initial work with regard to RNT and EF deficits in a still-developing population, and discusses clear future need for longitudinal, multi-method assessments of the relationship between RNT and EF subtypes in youth.