Background: Shortened gestation is a leading cause of childhood morbidity and mortality with lifelong consequences for health. There is a need for public health initiatives on increasing gestational age at birth. Prenatal maternal depression is a pervasive health problem robustly linked via correlational and epidemiological studies to shortened gestational length. This proof-of-concept study tests the impact of reducing prenatal maternal depression on gestational length with analysis of a randomized clinical trial (RCT). Methods: Participants included 226 pregnant individuals enrolled into an RCT and assigned to receive either interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) or enhanced usual care (EUC). Recruitment began in July 2017 and participants were enrolled August 10, 2017 to September, 8 2021. Depression diagnosis (Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition; DSM 5) and symptoms (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and Symptom Checklist) were evaluated at baseline and longitudinally throughout gestation to characterize depression trajectories. Gestational dating was collected based on current guidelines via medical records. The primary outcome was gestational age at birth measured dichotomously (≥39 gestational weeks) and the secondary outcome was gestational age at birth measured continuously. Posthoc analyses were performed to test the effect of reducing prenatal maternal depression on gestational length. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03011801). Findings: Steeper decreases in depression trajectories across gestation predicted later gestational age at birth, specifically an increase in the number of full-term babies born ≥39 gestational weeks (EPDS linear slopes: OR = 1.54, 95% CI 1.10-2.16; and SCL-20 linear slopes: OR = 1.67, 95% CI 1.16-2.42). Causal mediation analyses supported the hypothesis that participants assigned to IPT experienced greater reductions in depression symptom trajectories, which in turn, contributed to longer gestation. Supporting mediation, the natural indirect effect (NIE) showed that reduced depression trajectories resulting from intervention were associated with birth ≥39 gestational weeks (EPDS, OR = 1.65, 95% CI 1.02-2.66; SCL-20, OR = 1.85, 95% CI 1.16-2.97). Interpretation: We used a RCT design and found that reducing maternal depression across pregnancy was associated with lengthened gestation. Funding: This research was supported by the NIH (R01 HL155744, R01 MH109662, R21 MH124026, P50 MH096889).
BACKGROUND: Prenatal glucocorticoids are one of the most widely proposed prenatal programming mechanisms, yet few studies exist that measure fetal cortisol via neonatal hair. Neonatal hair provides a window into the fetal experience and represents cortisol accumulation in the third trimester of pregnancy. In the current study, we test the links between two types of anxiety over the course of gestation (pregnancy-related anxiety and general anxiety) with neonatal hair cortisol. METHOD: Pregnant individuals (N = 107) and their neonates (59.8% female) participated in the current study. Prenatal pregnancy-related anxiety and general anxiety were measured using the Pregnancy Related Anxiety Scale (PRAS) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), in each trimester of pregnancy. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to model the intercept and slope of each type of anxiety over gestation. Neonatal hair samples were collected shortly after birth (Median days = 1.17, IQR = 0.75-2.00). RESULTS: Both higher pregnancy-related anxiety and general anxiety at the beginning of pregnancy and a flatter decline of pregnancy-related anxiety over gestation were associated with lower neonatal hair cortisol. After inclusion of gestational age at birth and parity as covariates, pregnancy-related anxiety (intercept: ß = -0.614, p =.012; slope: ß = -0.681, p =.006), but not general anxiety (intercept: ß = -0.389, p =.114; slope: ß = -0.302, p =.217) remained a significant predictor. Further, when both general and pregnancy-related anxiety were entered into the same model, only pregnancy-related anxiety (intercept and slope) were significant predictors of neonatal hair cortisol, indicating an association with pregnancy-related anxiety above and beyond general anxiety. CONCLUSION: Cortisol plays a central role in maturation of fetal organ systems, and at the end of gestation, higher cortisol has beneficial effects such as promoting fetal lung maturation. Further, lower maternal cortisol is linked to less optimal cognitive development and altered brain development. As maternal higher anxiety in early pregnancy and a flatter decrease over time are both associated with lower neonatal hair cortisol, maternal pregnancy-related anxiety could be a target of future intervention efforts.
OBJECTIVE: To test potential cognitive and interpersonal moderators of two evidence-based youth depression prevention programs. METHOD: Two hundred four adolescents (Mage = 14.62 years, SD = 1.65; 56% female; 71% White, 11% Black, 11% multiracial, 5% Asian, 2% other races, 18% Hispanic/Latinx) were randomized to either a cognitive-behavioral (Coping With Stress [CWS]) or interpersonal (Interpersonal Psychotherapy-Adolescent Skills Training [IPT-AST]) prevention program. Potential moderators, selected based on theory and research, included rumination, negative cognitive style, dysfunctional attitudes, hopelessness, parent-adolescent conflict, negative interactions with parents and friends, and social support from parents and friends. Depression symptoms were assessed repeatedly through 18 months postintervention. RESULTS: After adjusting for multiple comparisons, rumination (B = -2.02, SE = .61, p = .001, d = .47), hopelessness (B = -2.03, SE = .72, p = .005, d = .41), and conflict with father (B = 1.68, SE = .74, p = .02, d = .32) moderated intervention effects on change in depression symptoms from postintervention through 18-month follow-up. For example, at high levels of conflict with father, youth in IPT-AST reported a significant decrease in symptoms during follow-up, whereas youth in CWS reported a nonsignificant change in symptoms. At low levels of conflict with father, youth in IPT-AST reported a significant increase in symptoms during follow-up, whereas youth in CWS reported a nonsignificant change in symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: These exploratory secondary analyses of Personalized Depression Prevention study data highlight specific cognitive and interpersonal risk factors that could be considered when determining which prevention program may be most effective for a given adolescent. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
Discrimination reported during pregnancy is associated with poorer offspring emotional outcomes. Links with effortful control have yet to be examined. This study investigated whether pregnant individuals' reports of lifetime racial/ethnic discrimination and everyday discrimination (including but not specific to race/ethnicity) reported during pregnancy were associated with offspring emerging effortful control at 6 months of age. Pregnant individuals (N = 174) and their offspring (93 female infants) participated. During pregnancy, participants completed two discrimination measures: (1) lifetime experience of racial/ethnic discrimination, and (2) everyday discrimination (not specific to race/ethnicity). Parents completed the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised when infants were 6 months old to assess orienting/regulation, a measure of emerging effortful control. Analyses were conducted in a subsample with racially/ethnically marginalized participants and then everyday discrimination analyses were repeated in the full sample. For racially/ethnically marginalized participants, greater everyday discrimination (ß = -.27, p = .01) but not greater lifetime experience of racial/ethnic discrimination (ß = -.21, p = .06) was associated with poorer infant emerging effortful control. In the full sample, greater everyday discrimination was associated with poorer infant emerging effortful control (ß = -.24, p = .002). Greater perceived stress, but not depressive symptoms, at 2 months postnatal mediated the association between everyday discrimination and emerging effortful control. Further research should examine additional biological and behavioral mechanisms by which discrimination reported during pregnancy may affect offspring emerging effortful control.
Racism , Pregnancy , Infant , Humans , Female , Racism/psychology , Ethnicity/psychology , Surveys and Questionnaires , Emotions , Depression
Given prior literature focused on the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease framework, there is strong rationale to hypothesize that reducing depression in the prenatal period will cause improvements in offspring cardiometabolic health. The current review outlines evidence that prenatal depression is associated with offspring cardiometabolic risk and health behaviors. We review evidence of these associations in humans and in nonhuman animals at multiple developmental periods, from the prenatal period (maternal preeclampsia, gestational diabetes), neonatal period (preterm birth, small size at birth), infancy (rapid weight gain), childhood and adolescence (high blood pressure, impaired glucose-insulin homeostasis, unfavorable lipid profiles, abdominal obesity), and into adulthood (diabetes, cardiovascular disease). In addition to these cardiometabolic outcomes, we focus on health behaviors associated with cardiometabolic risk, such as child eating behaviors, diet, physical activity, and sleep health. Our review focuses on child behaviors (e.g., emotional eating, preference for highly palatable foods, short sleep duration) and parenting behaviors (e.g., pressuring child to eat, modeling of health behaviors). These changes in health behaviors may be detected before changes to cardiometabolic outcomes, which may allow for early identification of and prevention for children at risk for poor adult cardiometabolic outcomes. We also discuss the methods of the ongoing Care Project, which is a randomized clinical trial to test whether reducing prenatal maternal depression improves offspring's cardiometabolic health and health behaviors in preschool. The goal of this review and the Care Project are to inform future research, interventions, and policies that support prenatal mental health and offspring cardiometabolic health. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
This study evaluated the role of bidirectional micro- and macro- level positive affect-related processes in the longitudinal coupling of depressive symptoms in parent-adolescent dyads. Using a measurement-burst design, including dyadic experience sampling methods (ESM) and monthly follow-ups over one year, this work investigated associations between (1) parental depressive symptoms and anhedonia and parental daily-life enhancing and dampening responses to youth positive affect; (2) parental daily-life enhancing and dampening and trajectories of youth positive affect, negative affect, and depressive symptoms across one year; and (3) youth developmental trajectories and prospective parental daily-life enhancing and dampening, and parental depressive symptoms and anhedonia at one-year follow-up. Participants included 146 early adolescents (52.1% girls, 47.9% boys; Mage[SD] = 12.71[.86]) and 139 parents (78.7% mothers; Mage[SD] = 44.11[5.08]). Parental enhancing and dampening were measured using a dyadic ESM procedure at baseline and 12-months. Youth completed monthtly questionnaires assessing depressive symptoms and trait positive and negative affect across 12 months. Parents reported on depressive symptoms and anhedonia at baseline and 12-months. Results showed that parental anhedonia negatively related to parental daily-life enhancing, and youths' perceptions of their parents' enhancing and dampening reciprocally related to youth emotional development across one year, with downstream implications for parents' own symptoms of depression.
Parental depression is a well-established risk factor for youth psychopathology; however, depression is highly heterogeneous, and different parental symptom profiles may be differentially associated with risk mechanisms and youth psychopathology outcomes. Thus, this study examined associations between parental anhedonic symptoms of depression, specifically, and (1) parenting and (2) youth outcomes using a multi-method, multi-informant approach. Participants included 595 parents (89% mothers) and youth (ages 8-16; M[SD] = 12.07[2.39]). Regression analyses indicated that parental self-reported anhedonic symptoms at baseline demonstrated relatively specific prospective associations with chronic parent-child stress assessed using contextual stress interview methods, as well as youth self-reported depressive symptoms at 18-month follow-up. Findings also indicated concurrent associations between parental anhedonic symptoms and observed parental criticism, conflict, and responsiveness in the context of a 5-min discussion task, as well as parent self-reported monitoring/supervision, although results were no longer significant after controlling for parental co-occurring non-anhedonic depressive symptoms. Findings suggest that parental anhedonic symptoms may contribute to relatively unique reductions in the quality of the parent-child relationship and may be a particularly salient risk factor for youth depression.
Anhedonia , Parenting , Female , Humans , Adolescent , Parents , Mothers , Parent-Child Relations
Quantitative, empirical approaches to establishing the structure of psychopathology hold promise to improve on traditional psychiatric classification systems. The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) is a framework that summarizes the substantial and growing body of quantitative evidence on the structure of psychopathology. To achieve its aims, HiTOP must incorporate emerging research in a systematic, ongoing fashion. In this article, we describe the historical context and grounding of the principles and procedures for revising the HiTOP framework. Informed by strengths and shortcomings of previous classification systems, the proposed revisions protocol is a formalized system focused around three pillars: (a) prioritizing systematic evaluation of quantitative evidence by a set of transparent criteria and processes, (b) balancing stability with flexibility, and (c) promoting inclusion over gatekeeping in all aspects of the process. We detail how the revisions protocol will be applied in practice, including the scientific and administrative aspects of the process. Additionally, we describe areas of the HiTOP structure that will be a focus of early revisions and outline challenges for the revisions protocol moving forward. The proposed revisions protocol is designed to ensure that the HiTOP framework reflects the current state of scientific knowledge on the structure of psychopathology and fulfils its potential to advance clinical research and practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
Knowledge , Mental Disorders , Humans , Databases, Factual , Psychopathology , Research Design , Mental Disorders/diagnosis
BACKGROUND: Prenatal maternal anxiety is a known influence on offspring development. General anxiety and pregnancy-related anxiety (a distinct type of anxiety encompassing fears associated with pregnancy) are associated with offspring socioemotional development, with potential consequences for later emotional and behavioral problems. This study examines whether maternal pregnancy-related and general anxiety relate to infant attention to affective faces, a process which plays an integral role in early socioemotional development. METHODS: Participants included 86 mothers and their 6-month-old infants (56.3 % female). Mothers completed measures of pregnancy-related and general anxiety three times through gestation. Infants' attention to affective faces was assessed with an eye-tracking task during which a series of face pairs were presented (happy, angry, or sad face paired with a neutral face). Overall attention measures included attention-holding (total looking time) and attention-orienting (latency to faces); affect-biased attention measures included proportion of total looking time to emotional faces and latency difference score. RESULTS: Higher maternal pregnancy-related anxiety across gestation predicted decreased infant attention-holding to affective faces [F(1,80) = 7.232, p = .009, partial η2 = 0.083]. No differences were found in infant attention-orienting or affect-biased attention. LIMITATIONS: Reliance on a correlational study design precludes the ability to make causal inferences. CONCLUSIONS: Maternal pregnancy-related anxiety is an important predictor of child outcomes. We provide novel evidence that pregnancy-related anxiety predicts infant attention to emotional faces, behaviors which have important implications for socioemotional development. Providers may consider pregnancy-related anxiety as a target for screening and treatment that may benefit both pregnant individual and offspring.
Anxiety , Emotions , Female , Humans , Infant , Male , Pregnancy , Anger , Anxiety/psychology , Facial Expression , Happiness , Mothers/psychology
Recent approaches aim to represent the dimensional structure of psychopathology, but relatively little research has rigorously tested sub-dimensions within internalizing psychopathology. This study tests pre-registered models of the dimensional structure of internalizing psychopathology, and their relations with current and lifetime depressive and anxiety disorders diagnostic data, in adult samples harmonized across three sites (n=427). Across S-1 bifactor and hierarchical models, we found converging evidence for both general and specific internalizing dimensions. Depression, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), social anxiety disorder (SAD), and panic attacks were all associated with a general internalizing factor that we posit primarily represents motivational anhedonia. GAD was also associated with a specific anxious apprehension factor, and SAD with specific anxious apprehension and low positive affect factors. We suggest that dimensional approaches capturing shared and specific internalizing symptom facets more accurately describe the structure of internalizing psychopathology and provide useful alternatives to categorical diagnoses to advance clinical science.
This paper summarizes many findings about depression among children and adolescents. Depression is prevalent, highly distressing, and exerts considerable burden worldwide. Rates surge from childhood through young adulthood and have increased over the last decade. Many risk factors have been identified, and evidence-based interventions exist targeting mostly individual-level changes via psychological or pharmacological means. At the same time, the field appears stuck and has not achieved considerable progress in advancing scientific understanding of depression's features or delivering interventions to meet the challenge of youth depression's high and growing prevalence. This paper adopts several positions to address these challenges and move the field forward. First, we emphasize reinvigoration of construct validation approaches that may better characterize youth depression's phenomenological features and inform more valid and reliable assessments that can enhance scientific understanding and improve interventions for youth depression. To this end, history and philosophical principles affecting depression's conceptualization and measurement are considered. Second, we suggest expanding the range and targets of treatments and prevention efforts beyond current practice guidelines for evidence-based interventions. This broader suite of interventions includes structural- and system-level change focused at community and societal levels (e.g., evidence-based economic anti-poverty interventions) and personalized interventions with sufficient evidence base. We propose that by focusing on the FORCE (Fundamentals, Openness, Relationships, Constructs, Evidence), youth depression research can provide new hope.
Depression , Child , Humans , Adolescent , Young Adult , Adult , Depression/prevention & control , Risk Factors
Adaptation to intimate partner violence (IPV) exposure involves alterations in transdiagnostic processes including effortful control (EC), and yet little attention has been given to the ways such processes interact with family-level factors, such as caregivers' psychopathology. This study used latent change score modeling to compare trajectories of EC and caregivers' depressive (CD) symptoms between children and adolescents (N = 365) ages 7-17 who had witnessed IPV (IPV+; 45.3%) and those who had not (IPV-) across 3 years. Findings suggested that IPV exposure moderated relationships between EC and CD. CD was higher and EC was lower for IPV+ relative to IPV- participants, although there was significant variation around mean-level CD and EC in both groups. CD and EC were only linked for IPV+ participants, where higher baseline CD was associated with lower EC that lagged behind IPV- participants' EC across the 3 years of the study. Rates of change for CD significantly varied for the IPV+ group only, indicating that individual difference factors interacted with IPV exposure to influence changes in CD. These findings inform literature on transdiagnostic adaptation processes and point to the potential utility of interventions to reduce IPV and CD in supporting EC in children and adolescents across contexts.
Importance: Prenatal depression is prevalent with negative consequences for both the mother and developing fetus. Brief, effective, and safe interventions to reduce depression during pregnancy are needed. Objective: To evaluate depression improvement (symptoms and diagnosis) among pregnant individuals from diverse backgrounds randomized to brief interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) vs enhanced usual care (EUC). Design, Setting, and Participants: A prospective, evaluator-blinded, randomized clinical trial, the Care Project, was conducted among adult pregnant individuals who reported elevated symptoms during routine obstetric care depression screening in general practice in obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN) clinics. Participants were recruited between July 2017 and August 2021. Repeated measures follow-up occurred across pregnancy from baseline (mean [SD], 16.7 [4.2] gestational weeks) through term. Pregnant participants were randomized to IPT or EUC and included in intent-to-treat analyses. Interventions: Treatment comprised an engagement session and 8 active sessions of brief IPT (MOMCare) during pregnancy. EUC included engagement and maternity support services. Main Outcomes and Measures: Two depression symptom scales, the 20-item Symptom Checklist and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, were assessed at baseline and repeatedly across pregnancy. Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 ascertained major depressive disorder (MDD) at baseline and the end of gestation. Results: Of 234 participants, 115 were allocated to IPT (mean [SD] age, 29.7 [5.9] years; 57 [49.6%] enrolled in Medicaid; 42 [36.5%] had current MDD; 106 [92.2%] received intervention) and 119 to EUC (mean [SD] age, 30.1 [5.9] years; 62 [52.1%] enrolled in Medicaid; 44 [37%] had MDD). The 20-item Symptom Checklist scores improved from baseline over gestation for IPT but not EUC (d = 0.57; 95% CI, 0.22-0.91; mean [SD] change for IPT vs EUC: 26.7 [1.14] to 13.6 [1.40] vs 27.1 [1.12] to 23.5 [1.34]). IPT participants more rapidly improved on Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale compared with EUC (d = 0.40; 95% CI, 0.06-0.74; mean [SD] change for IPT vs EUC: 11.4 [0.38] to 5.4 [0.57] vs 11.5 [0.37] to 7.6 [0.55]). MDD rate by end of gestation had decreased significantly for IPT participants (7 [6.1%]) vs EUC (31 [26.1%]) (odds ratio, 4.99; 95% CI, 2.08-11.97). Conclusions and Relevance: In this study, brief IPT significantly reduced prenatal depression symptoms and MDD compared with EUC among pregnant individuals from diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds recruited from primary OB/GYN clinics. As a safe, effective intervention to relieve depression during pregnancy, brief IPT may positively affect mothers' mental health and the developing fetus. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03011801.
Depressive Disorder, Major , Psychotherapy, Brief , Adult , Humans , Female , Pregnancy , Depression/diagnosis , Depression/therapy , Depressive Disorder, Major/diagnosis , Depressive Disorder, Major/therapy , Treatment Outcome , Prospective Studies
Imaging genetics provides an opportunity to discern associations between genetic variants and brain imaging phenotypes. Historically, the field has focused on adults and adolescents; very few imaging genetics studies have focused on brain development in infancy and early childhood (from birth to age 6 years). This is an important knowledge gap because developmental changes in the brain during the prenatal and early postnatal period are regulated by dynamic gene expression patterns that likely play an important role in establishing an individual's risk for later psychiatric illness and neurodevelopmental disabilities. In this review, we summarize findings from imaging genetics studies spanning from early infancy to early childhood, with a focus on studies examining genetic risk for neuropsychiatric disorders. We also introduce the Organization for Imaging Genomics in Infancy (ORIGINs), a working group of the ENIGMA (Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis) consortium, which was established to facilitate large-scale imaging genetics studies in infancy and early childhood.
Brain , Mental Disorders , Female , Pregnancy , Child, Preschool , Humans , Brain/diagnostic imaging , Mental Disorders/genetics , Neuroimaging/methods , Phenotype
Biased attention toward affective cues often cooccurs with the emergence and maintenance of internalizing disorders. However, few studies have assessed whether affect-biased attention in infancy relates to early indicators of psychopathological risk, such as negative affectivity. The current study evaluates whether negative affectivity relates to affect-biased attention in 6-month-old infants. Affect-biased attention was assessed via a free-viewing eye-tracking task in which infants were presented with a series of face pairs (comprised of a happy, angry, or sad face and a neutral face). Attention was quantified with metrics of both attention orienting and attention holding. Overall, infants showed no differences in attention orienting (i.e., speed of looking) or attention holding (i.e., duration of looking) toward emotional faces in comparison to the neutral face pairs. Negative affectivity, assessed via parent report, did not relate to attention orienting but was associated with biased attention toward positive, happy faces and away from threat-cueing, angry faces in comparison to the neutral faces they were paired with. These findings suggest that negative affectivity is associated with differences in attention holding, but not initial orienting toward emotional faces; biases which have important implications for the trajectory of socioemotional development.
Attentional Bias , Humans , Infant , Emotions , Anger , Attention , Happiness , Facial Expression
Stress is one candidate mechanism posited to contribute to the intergenerational risk of psychopathology. However, the ways in which parent and child stress are related across adolescence, and the role that co-occurring parent and child stress may exert regarding bidirectional risk for internalizing symptoms, are not well understood. Using repeated measures data spanning 3-years, this study investigated (1) the extent to which trajectories of parent and child stress are related during adolescence, and (2) whether co-occurring parent and child stress trajectories mediate prospective, bidirectional associations between parent depression symptoms and child internalizing symptoms (depression, physical and social anxiety). Participants included 618 parent-adolescent dyads (age 8-16; 57% girls; 89% mothers). Parent depressive symptoms and child symptoms of depression, social anxiety, and physical anxiety were assessed via self-report questionnaire at baseline and 36 months later. Parent and child stress were assessed via self-report questionnaire every three months between 3- and 33-months (11 total assessments). Latent growth curve model (LGCM) analysis found that parent and child stress trajectories were positively related across development. Prospective LGCM mediation analysis showed that higher youth stress at 3-months partially mediated prospective relations between parental depressive symptoms at baseline and youth depressive, as well as physical and social anxiety symptoms at 36-months. Parent and child stress reinforce each other across adolescence and may lead to increased risk for psychopathology. Increases in child stress represent an important factor conferring transdiagnostic risk for internalizing among children of depressed parents.
Child of Impaired Parents , Parents , Child , Female , Humans , Adolescent , Male , Mothers , Anxiety , Anxiety Disorders
OBJECTIVE: Depression and stressors both increase during adolescence. The stress generation model posits that depression symptoms and associated impairment contribute to the generation of dependent stressors. Adolescent depression prevention programs have been shown to reduce the risk of depression. Recently, risk-informed personalization approaches have been adopted to enhance the efficacy of depression prevention, and preliminary evidence supports the beneficial effects of personalized prevention on depression symptoms. Given the close association between depression and stress, we examined the hypothesis that personalized depression prevention programs would reduce adolescents' experience of dependent stressors (interpersonal and non-interpersonal) over longitudinal follow-up. METHOD: The present study included 204 adolescents (56% girls, 29% racial minority) who were randomized to receive either a cognitive-behavioral or an interpersonal prevention program. Youth were categorized as high or low on cognitive and interpersonal risk using a previously established risk classification system. Half of the adolescents received a prevention program that matched their risk profile (e.g., high cognitive risk randomized to cognitive-behavioral prevention); half received a mismatched program (e.g., high interpersonal risk randomized to cognitive-behavioral prevention). Exposure to dependent and independent stressors was assessed repeatedly over an 18-month follow-up period. RESULTS: Matched adolescents reported fewer dependent stressors during the post-intervention follow-up period (d = .46, p = .002) and from baseline through 18-months post-intervention (d = .35, p = .02) compared to mismatched youth. As expected, there were no differences between matched and mismatched youth on the experience of independent stressors. CONCLUSIONS: These findings further highlight the potential of personalized approaches to depression prevention and demonstrate benefits that go beyond depression symptom reduction.
Pregnancy is a time of increased vulnerability to psychopathology, yet limited work has investigated the extent to which variation in psychopathology during pregnancy is shared and unshared across syndromes and symptoms. Understanding the structure of psychopathology during pregnancy, including associations with childhood experiences, may elucidate risk and resilience factors that are transdiagnostic and/or specific to particular psychopathology phenotypes. Participants were 292 pregnant individuals assessed using multiple measures of psychopathology. Confirmatory factor analyses found evidence for a structure of psychopathology consistent with the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP). A common transdiagnostic factor accounted for most variation in psychopathology, and both adverse and benevolent childhood experiences (ACEs and BCEs) were associated with this transdiagnostic factor. Furthermore, pregnancy-specific anxiety symptoms most closely reflected the dimension of Fear, which may suggest shared variation with manifestations of fear that are not pregnancy-specific. ACEs and BCEs also linked to specific prenatal psychopathology involving thought problems, detachment, and internalizing, externalizing, antagonistic, and antisocial behavior. These findings extend the dimensional and hierarchical HiTOP model to pregnant individuals and show how maternal childhood risk and resilience factors relate to common and specific forms of psychopathology during pregnancy as a period of enhanced vulnerability.
The goal of the current study was to interrogate aspects of the cascade-of-control model [Banich, M. T. Executive function: The search for an integrated account. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18, 89-94, 2009; Banich, M. T. The Stroop effect occurs at multiple points along a cascade of control: Evidence from cognitive neuroscience approaches. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2164, 2019], a neurocognitive model that posits how portions of pFC interact in a cascade-like manner to overcome interference from task-irrelevant information, and to test whether it could be used to predict individual differences in cognitive control outside the scanner. Participants (n = 62) completed two fMRI Word-Picture Stroop tasks, one containing emotional stimuli and one containing non-emotional stimuli, as well as a behavioral out-of-scanner Color-Word Stroop task at each of two time points. In a departure from the traditional approach of using a single task contrast to index neural activation across all ROIs, the current study utilized specific ROI by contrast pairings selected based on the specific level of control hypothesized by the cascade-of-control model to occur within that region. In addition, data across both tasks and both time points were combined to create composite measures of neural activation and of behavior. Consistent with the cascade-of-control model, individual differences in brain activation for specific contrasts within each of the three ROIs were associated with behavioral interference on the standard Color-Word Stroop task. Testing of alternative models revealed that these brain-behavior relationships were specific to the theoretically driven ROI by contrast pairings. Furthermore, such relationships were not observed across single-task and single-time point measures, but instead emerged from the composite measures. These findings provide evidence that brain activation observed across multiple regions of frontal cortex, each of which likely exerts cognitive control in a differential manner, is capable of predicting individual differences in behavioral performance.
Brain , Individuality , Humans , Brain/diagnostic imaging , Brain/physiology , Emotions/physiology , Executive Function/physiology , Brain Mapping , Stroop Test , Magnetic Resonance Imaging
The ability to distinguish facial emotions emerges in infancy. Although this ability has been shown to emerge between 5 and 7 months of age, the literature is less clear regarding the extent to which neural correlates of perception and attention play a role in processing of specific emotions. This study's main goal was to examine this question among infants. To this end, we presented angry, fearful, and happy faces to 7-month-old infants (N = 107, 51% female) while recording event-related brain potentials. The perceptual N290 component showed a heightened response for fearful and happy relative to angry faces. Attentional processing, indexed by the P400, showed some evidence of a heightened response for fearful relative to happy and angry faces. We did not observe robust differences by emotion in the negative central (Nc) component, although trends were consistent with previous work suggesting a heightened response to negatively valenced expressions. Results suggest that perceptual (N290) and attentional (P400) processing is sensitive to emotions in faces, but these processes do not provide evidence for a fear-specific bias across components.
Facial Recognition , Humans , Infant , Female , Male , Facial Recognition/physiology , Facial Expression , Emotions/physiology , Evoked Potentials/physiology , Fear/physiology , Electroencephalography
