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1. Sensory processing challenges as a novel link between early caregiving experiences and mental health

   https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579422000633  

   Méndez Leal, Adriana S. ; Alba, Laura A. ; Cummings, Kaitlin K. ; Jung, Jiwon ; Waizman, Yael H. ; Guassi Moreira, João F. ; Saragosa-Harris, Natalie M. ; Ninova, Emilia ; Waterman, Jill M. ; Langley, Audra K. ; et al ( January 2022 , Development and Psychopathology)

   Abstract Early caregiving adversity (ECA) is associated with elevated psychological symptomatology. While neurobehavioral ECA research has focused on socioemotional and cognitive development, ECA may also increase risk for “low-level” sensory processing challenges. However, no prior work has compared how diverse ECA exposures differentially relate to sensory processing, or, critically, how this might influence psychological outcomes. We examined sensory processing challenges in 183 8-17-year-old youth with and without histories of institutional (orphanage) or foster caregiving, with a particular focus on sensory over-responsivity (SOR), a pattern of intensified responses to sensory stimuli that may negatively impact mental health. We further tested whether sensory processing challenges are linked to elevated internalizing and externalizing symptoms common in ECA-exposed youth. Relative to nonadopted comparison youth, both groups of ECA-exposed youth had elevated sensory processing challenges, including SOR, and also had heightened internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Additionally, we found significant indirect effects of ECA on internalizing and externalizing symptoms through both general sensory processing challenges and SOR, covarying for age and sex assigned at birth. These findings suggest multiple forms of ECA confer risk for sensory processing challenges that may contribute to mental health outcomes, and motivate continuing examination of these symptoms, with possible long-term implications for screening and treatment following ECA. 

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2. The longitudinal role of family conflict and neural reward sensitivity in youth’s internalizing symptoms

   https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsad037  

   Yang, Beiming ; Anderson, Zachary ; Zhou, Zexi ; Liu, Sihong ; Haase, Claudia M. ; Qu, Yang ( July 2023 , Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience)

   Adolescence is often associated with an increase in psychopathology. Although previous studies have examined how family environments and neural reward sensitivity separately play a role in youth’s emotional development, it remains unknown how they interact with each other in predicting youth’s internalizing symptoms. Therefore, the current research took a biopsychosocial approach to examine this question using two-wave longitudinal data of 9353 preadolescents (mean age = 9.93 years at T1; 51% boys) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study. Using mixed-effects models, results showed that higher family conflict predicted youth’s increased internalizing symptoms 1 year later, whereas greater ventral striatum (VS) activity during reward receipt predicted reduced internalizing symptoms over time. Importantly, there was an interaction effect between family conflict and VS activity. For youth who showed greater VS activation during reward receipt, high family conflict was more likely to predict increased internalizing symptoms. In contrast, youth with low VS activation during reward receipt showed high levels of internalizing symptoms regardless of family conflict. The findings suggest that youth’s neural reward sensitivity is a marker of susceptibility to adverse family environments and highlight the importance of cultivating supportive family environments where youth experience less general conflict within the family.

    

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3. Adipocytokine correlates of childhood and adolescent mental health: A systematic review

   https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.22379  

   Scott, Samantha R. ; Millwood, Summer N. ; Manczak, Erika M. ( March 2023 , Developmental Psychobiology)

   The objective of this systematic review was to determine the current state of the literature regarding how adipocytokines associate with mental health symptoms/disorders in youth. Findings summarized in this review suggested that inneurodevelopmental disorders, higher levels of leptin, ghrelin, resistin, and visfatin as well as lower levels of adiponectin, retinol‐binding protein 4, and progranulin predicted increased risk for or were conflated with autism spectrum disorder. Adipocytokine correlates of attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder and related symptoms included higher apelin, higher leptin‐to‐adiponectin ratio, and lower adiponectin. Evidence from studies examininganxiety symptomsevinced mixed results regarding leptin, and one study suggested higher levels of ghrelin.Depressivesymptoms correlated with higher leptin and ghrelin. Research examiningposttraumatic stresssymptoms found higher levels of ghrelin. In research examiningbroadbandsymptoms, conflicting results emerged for associations between internalizing symptoms (i.e., symptoms of emotional stress) and leptin in youth. Low levels of adiponectin and high levels of leptin predicted externalizing symptoms. Total symptom difficulties were associated with a higher leptin‐to‐adiponectin ratio. Our findings suggest that adipocytokines may be an important set of biomarkers to consider as underlying mechanisms contributing to developmental psychopathology.

    

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4. Effects of multidomain environmental and mental health factors on the development of empathetic behaviors and emotions in adolescence

   https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293473  

   Smith, Calli ; Stamoulis, Catherine ( November 2023 , PLOS ONE)

   Daher-Nashif, Suhad (Ed.)

   Empathy is at the core of our social world, yet multidomain factors that affect its development in socially sensitive periods, such as adolescence, are incompletely understood. To address this gap, this study investigated associations between social, environmental and mental health factors, and their temporal changes, on adolescent empathetic behaviors/emotions and, for comparison, callous unemotional (CU) traits and behaviors, in the early longitudinal Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development sample (baseline: n = 11062; 2-year follow-up: n = 9832, median age = 119 and 144 months, respectively). Caregiver affection towards the youth, liking school, having a close friend, and importance of religious beliefs/spirituality in the youth’s life were consistently positively correlated with empathetic behaviors/emotions across assessments (p<0.001, Cohen’s f = ~0.10). Positive family dynamics and cohesion, living in a neighborhood that shared the family’s values, but also parent history of substance use and (aggregated) internalizing problems were additionally positively associated with one or more empathetic behaviors at follow-up (p<0.001, f = ~0.10). In contrast, externalizing problems, anxiety, depression, fear of social situations, and being withdrawn were negatively associated with empathetic behaviors and positively associated with CU traits and behaviors (p<0.001, f = ~0.1–0.44). The latter were also correlated with being cyberbullied and/or discriminated against, anhedonia, and impulsivity, and their interactions with externalizing and internalizing issues. Significant positive temporal correlations of behaviors at the two assessments indicated positive (early) developmental empathetic behavior trajectories, and negative CU traits’ trajectories. Negative changes in mental health adversely moderated positive trajectories and facilitated negative ones. These findings highlight that adolescent empathetic behaviors/emotions are positively related to multidomain protective social environmental factors, but simultaneously adversely associated with risk factors in the same domains, as well as bully victimization, discrimination, and mental health problems. Risk factors instead facilitate the development of CU traits and behaviors.

    

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5. Changes in Maternal Depression and Children’s Behavior Problems: Investigating the Role of COVID-19-Related Stressors, Hair Cortisol, and Dehydroepiandrosterone

   https://doi.org/10.1177/21677026221076845  

   Doan, Stacey N. ; Ding, Madeleine ; Burniston, Anna Beth ; Smiley, Patricia A. ; Chow, Chong Man ; Liu, Cindy H. ( March 2022 , Clinical Psychological Science)

   Few studies have used longitudinal approaches to consider the cumulative impact of COVID-19-related stressors (CRSs) on the psychological adjustment of mothers and children. In the current study, we tracked changes in maternal depressive symptoms and children’s behavioral problems from approximately 2 years before the pandemic (T1) to May through August 2020 (T2). Second, we explored maternal hair cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone as predictors of change in maternal depressive symptoms. Mothers ( N = 120) reported on maternal and child psychological adjustment at both time points. Hair hormone data were collected in the lab at T1. Results suggest increases in children’s internalizing symptoms from T1 to T2 and that higher levels of CRSs were associated with increased maternal depressive symptoms. Maternal and child adjustment were correlated. Maternal hair cortisol, but not dehydroepiandrosterone, was associated with significant increases in depressive symptoms. Findings underscore the importance of considering the family system and cumulative risk exposure on maternal and child mental health.

    

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