Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences - Research Publications
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ItemDevelopment of temperamental effortful control mediates the relationship between maturation of the prefrontal cortex and psychopathology during adolescence: A 4-year longitudinal study(ELSEVIER SCI LTD, 2014-07)This study investigated the relationship between the development of effortful control (EC), a temperamental measure of self-regulation, and concurrent development of three regions of the prefrontal cortex (anterior cingulate cortex, ACC; dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, dlPFC; ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, vlPFC) between early- and mid-adolescence. It also examined whether development of EC mediated the relationship between cortical maturation and emotional and behavioral symptoms. Ninety-two adolescents underwent baseline assessments when they were approximately 12 years old and follow-up assessments approximately 4 years later. At each assessment, participants had MRI scans and completed the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire-Revised, as well as measures of depressive and anxious symptoms, and aggressive and risk taking behavior. Cortical thicknesses of the ACC, dlPFC and vlPFC, estimated using the FreeSurfer software, were found to decrease over time. EC also decreased over time in females. Greater thinning of the left ACC was associated with less reduction in EC. Furthermore, change in effortful control mediated the relationship between greater thinning of the left ACC and improvements in socioemotional functioning, including reductions in psychopathological symptoms. These findings highlight the dynamic association between EC and the maturation of the anterior cingulate cortex, and the importance of this relationship for socioemotional functioning during adolescence.
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ItemObserved Measures of Negative Parenting Predict Brain Development during Adolescence(PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE, 2016-01-29)Limited attention has been directed toward the influence of non-abusive parenting behaviour on brain structure in adolescents. It has been suggested that environmental influences during this period are likely to impact the way that the brain develops over time. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between aggressive and positive parenting behaviors on brain development from early to late adolescence, and in turn, psychological and academic functioning during late adolescence, using a multi-wave longitudinal design. Three hundred and sixty seven magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were obtained over three time points from 166 adolescents (11-20 years). At the first time point, observed measures of maternal aggressive and positive behaviors were obtained. At the final time point, measures of psychological and academic functioning were obtained. Results indicated that a higher frequency of maternal aggressive behavior was associated with alterations in the development of right superior frontal and lateral parietal cortical thickness, and of nucleus accumbens volume, in males. Development of the superior frontal cortex in males mediated the relationship between maternal aggressive behaviour and measures of late adolescent functioning. We suggest that our results support an association between negative parenting and adolescent functioning, which may be mediated by immature or delayed brain maturation.
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ItemChildhood maltreatment, psychopathology, and the development of hippocampal subregions during adolescence(WILEY, 2017-02)INTRODUCTION: It is well established that childhood maltreatment has a detrimental impact on the brain, particularly the hippocampus. However, the hippocampus is a functionally and structurally heterogeneous region, and little is known about how maltreatment might affect hippocampal subregion development throughout important periods of plasticity. This study investigated whether childhood maltreatment was associated with the development of hippocampal subregion volumes from early to late adolescence. It also investigated associations between onset of psychiatric disorder and hippocampal subregion volume development. METHODS: One hundred and sixty-six (85 male) adolescents took part in three magnetic resonance imaging assessments during adolescence (mean age at each assessment: 12.79 [SD 0.43] years, 16.70 [SD 0.52] years, and 19.08 [SD 0.46] years), provided a self-report of childhood maltreatment, and were assessed for Axis I psychopathology. RESULTS: Childhood maltreatment was associated with the development of right total and left cornu ammonis 4 (CA4-DG) volumes from early to late adolescence. Early and late onset psychopathology was associated with the development of right presubiculum and right cornu ammonis 1 (CA1) volumes, respectively. Maltreatment findings appeared to be specific to males, whereas psychopathology findings appeared to be specific to females. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide evidence for possible deleterious effects of childhood maltreatment and early onset psychiatric disorder on the development of different subregions of the hippocampus. Altered development of the right CA1, on the other hand, might precede the development of late-adolescent onset psychopathology. Our results highlight the importance of considering development in research examining associations between stress, mental illness, and hippocampal morphology.
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ItemA systematic review of adrenarche as a sensitive period in neurobiological development and mental health(ELSEVIER SCI LTD, 2017-06)Substantial hormonal and neurobiological changes occur during puberty, and are widely argued to render this period of life a sensitive period in terms of risk for mental health problems. However, there is a paucity of research focusing on adrenarche, the earlier phase of pubertal development. Furthermore, there is a limited understanding of the association between adrenarche and neural development during this phase of life. We systematically reviewed research examining human adrenarcheal development as operationalized by hormonal levels of DHEA and DHEA-S, in relation to indices of mental health (Systematic Review 1). We then reviewed the limited amount of literature that has examined the association between adrenarcheal development and brain structure or function (Systematic Review 2). In general, studies showed that earlier timing of adrenarche was associated with greater mental health symptoms, and there is emerging support that brain development plays a role in this relationship. However, several methodological inconsistencies were noted. We propose that future research in this area test a theoretical model of adrenarche as a sensitive period of neurobiological development, whereby timing of exposure to hormones interacts with brain development, biological sex, and psychosocial stress to influence environmental sensitivity and risk for mental health problems through adolescence.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableStructural Brain Development and Depression Onset During Adolescence: A Prospective Longitudinal Study(AMER PSYCHIATRIC PUBLISHING, INC, 2014-05)OBJECTIVE: The authors sought to investigate whether the structural development of limbic, striatal, and prefrontal regions that are critically implicated in the pathophysiology of depression is associated with adolescent-onset depression. METHOD: In a longitudinal design, a risk enriched community sample of 86 adolescents (41 of them female) who had no history of depressive disorders participated in neuroimaging assessments conducted during early (age 12) and midadolescence (age 16). Onset of depressive disorders was assessed for the period spanning early to late adolescence (ages 12 to 18). Thirty participants experienced a first episode of a depressive disorder during the follow-up period. The authors assessed whether onset of depressive disorder was associated with structural change in limbic, striatal, and prefrontal cortical regions from early to mid-adolescence. RESULTS: Volumetric change in the hippocampus, amygdala, and putamen from early to mid-adolescence was associated with the onset of depression during adolescence. Attenuated growth of the hippocampus and attenuated reduction in putamen volume over time were associated with the onset of depression. Sex moderated the association between amygdala growth and depression such that exaggerated growth and attenuated growth of the amygdala were associated with depression in females and males, respectively. Across time, smaller nucleus accumbens volume was associated with depression in females only. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that alterations in the developmental trajectories of limbic and striatal regions during adolescence may represent a neurobiological manifestation of a risk factor for the development of depression during this critical period and thus may provide clues as to etiological mechanisms of this disorder.
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ItemPositive parenting predicts the development of adolescent brain structure: A longitudinal study(ELSEVIER SCI LTD, 2014-04)Little work has been conducted that examines the effects of positive environmental experiences on brain development to date. The aim of this study was to prospectively investigate the effects of positive (warm and supportive) maternal behavior on structural brain development during adolescence, using longitudinal structural MRI. Participants were 188 (92 female) adolescents, who were part of a longitudinal adolescent development study that involved mother-adolescent interactions and MRI scans at approximately 12 years old, and follow-up MRI scans approximately 4 years later. FreeSurfer software was used to estimate the volume of limbic-striatal regions (amygdala, hippocampus, caudate, putamen, pallidum, and nucleus accumbens) and the thickness of prefrontal regions (anterior cingulate and orbitofrontal cortices) across both time points. Higher frequency of positive maternal behavior during the interactions predicted attenuated volumetric growth in the right amygdala, and accelerated cortical thinning in the right anterior cingulate (males only) and left and right orbitofrontal cortices, between baseline and follow up. These results have implications for understanding the biological mediators of risk and protective factors for mental disorders that have onset during adolescence.