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About this paper symposium
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| Panel 6. Developmental Psychopathology |
| Paper #1 | |
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| The Role of Children’s Neural Responses to Emotional Faces in the Intergenerational Transmission of Anxiety | |
| Author information | Role |
| Finola Eileen Kane-Grade, University of Minnesota, United States | Presenting author |
| Dashiell D. Sacks, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Carter R. Petty, Boston Children's Hospital, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Wanze Xie, Peking University, China | Non-presenting author |
| Charles A. Nelson, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Harvard Graduate School of Education, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Michelle Bosquet Enlow, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Abstract | |
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Introduction: Anxiety disorders are among the most prevalent mental health disorders and emerge as early as preschool. Although parental history of anxiety has been identified as one of the most robust risk factors for child anxiety (e.g., Yirmiya et al., 2021), the processes responsible for this intergenerational transmission are not well understood. One mechanism that may link maternal and child mental health is child neural processing of emotions. Exposure to maternal anxiety in early life may alter children’s neural circuitry in regions involved in emotion processing, which, in turn, may magnify the impact of later exposure to maternal anxiety on child mental health risk. We aimed to examine associations between maternal anxiety and children’s internalizing symptomatology, focusing on the potential contributing role of child neural processing of emotion in mediating and/or moderating this association. Hypotheses: We hypothesized that greater maternal anxiety would be associated with greater child internalizing symptoms and that greater child neural responses (i.e., larger negative N290 and Nc amplitude, larger positive P400 amplitude) to threatening faces (angry, fearful) at age 3 years would mediate the association between maternal anxiety in infancy and child internalizing symptoms at age 5 years. Additionally, we hypothesized that greater child neural responses to threatening faces at age 3 years would moderate the effects of maternal anxiety at age 5 years on child internalizing symptoms at age 5 years, such that children who exhibited both greater neural responding to threat and exposure to heightened maternal anxiety would demonstrate the highest level of internalizing symptoms. Study Population: A prospective longitudinal study of a community sample of N=464 mother-child dyads assessed in infancy and at ages 3 years and 5 years. Methods: Self-reported maternal anxiety and depressive symptoms were evaluated at the infancy and 5-year timepoints via the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger et al., 1983) and Beck Depression Inventory (Beck et al., 1961), respectively. Child EEG was collected at age 3 years using a 128-electrode HydroCel Geodesic Sensor Net connected to a NetAmps 300 amplifier (Electrical Geodesic Inc.) and processed to derive ERP components (N290, Nc, P400) in response to presentation of emotional faces (angry, fearful, happy; Figure 1). Parent-reported child internalizing symptoms were evaluated at age 5 years using the Child Behavior Checklist 1.5-5 (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000). Path analyses were utilized for mediation and moderation analyses. Results: Larger Nc and P400 amplitudes to angry faces and Nc amplitude to happy faces magnified (i.e., moderated) the positive effect of maternal anxiety symptoms at 5 years on child internalizing symptoms at 5 years. Figure 2 displays the results for Nc angry as an exemplar. Effects were specific to maternal anxiety and not related to maternal depressive symptoms. Mediating effects were not observed. Conclusions: Larger neural responses to emotional faces may represent a risk factor that amplifies vulnerability to the development of internalizing symptomatology in young children exposed to maternal anxiety. These results have implications for identifying at-risk children in early life and for developing targeted interventions to reduce risk for psychopathology. |
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| Paper #2 | |
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| EEG Frontal Alpha Asymmetry Mediates the Association between Maternal and Child Internalizing Symptoms in Childhood | |
| Author information | Role |
| Dr. Dashiell Sacks, Harvard Medical School, United States | Presenting author |
| Yiyi Wang, University of Chicago, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Asja Abron, Boston Children's Hospital, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Kaitlin M. Mulligan, Boston Children's Hospital, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Caroline M. Kelsey, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Wanze Xie, Peking University, China | Non-presenting author |
| Charles A. Nelson, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Harvard Graduate School of Education, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Michelle Bosquet Enlow, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Abstract | |
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Introduction: Anxiety and depression are highly prevalent in youth and can cause significant distress and functional impairment. The presence of maternal anxiety and depression are well-established risk factors for child internalizing psychopathology, yet the responsible mechanisms linking the two remain unclear. One potential mechanism is EEG frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA). Child FAA has been found to be separately associated with both maternal and child internalizing symptoms in prior studies. We aimed to examine the potential mediating and moderating roles of EEG frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) in the intergenerational transmission of internalizing symptoms in a large longitudinal sample of young children. Hypotheses: 1) Child relative right FAA at 5 years will mediate the association between maternal internalizing symptoms at 3 years and child internalizing symptoms at 7 years. 2) Child relative right FAA at 5 years will moderate the association between maternal internalizing symptoms at 5 years and child internalizing symptoms at 7 years, such that children who demonstrate greater relative right FAA and exposure to heightened maternal internalizing symptoms will exhibit the highest level of internalizing symptoms. Study Population: A longitudinal community sample of N = 323 mother-child dyads assessed at child ages 3, 5, and 7 years. Methods: Self-reported maternal anxiety and depressive symptoms were evaluated at child ages 3 years and 5 years via the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger et al., 1983) and Beck Depression Inventory (Beck et al., 1961), respectively. Child baseline EEG was collected at 5 years using a 128-electrode HydroCel Geodesic Sensor Net connected to a NetAmps 300 amplifier (Electrical Geodesic Inc.) and processed to derive FAA. Parent-reported child internalizing symptoms were evaluated at age 7 years using the Child Behavior Checklist 6-18 (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000; Achenbach et al., 2001; Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1991; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2014). Results: We observed significant associations among maternal internalizing (anxiety, depressive) symptoms at child ages 3 and 5 years, child FAA at age 5 years, and child internalizing symptoms at age 7 years. There was a significant mediation effect, whereby greater maternal anxiety (Figure 1) and depressive symptoms (Figure 2) at age 3 years were significantly associated with greater relative right FAA in children at age 5 years, which, in turn, was significantly associated with greater child internalizing symptoms at age 7 years (ps < .001). There was no moderating effect of FAA on the association between maternal internalizing symptoms at age 5 years and child internalizing symptoms at age 7 years. Conclusions: Greater right frontal asymmetry may be a neurophysiological mechanism that mediates the intergenerational transmission of internalizing symptoms in young children. These results have implications for identifying at-risk children in early life and for developing targeted interventions to reduce risk for psychopathology. |
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| Paper #3 | |
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| From Temperament to Psychopathology: Roles of Frontal Alpha Asymmetry and Brain Connectivity in Early Childhood | |
| Author information | Role |
| Dr. Wanze Xie, Peking University, China | Presenting author |
| Yiyi Wang, University of Chicago, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Dashiell D. Sacks, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Charles A. Nelson, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Harvard Graduate School of Education, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Michelle Bosquet Enlow, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Abstract | |
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Introduction: Temperament profiles in early childhood are critical indicators of socioemotional development and predictors of later psychopathology. Recent research shows that children exhibiting an "emotionally and behaviorally dysregulated (EBD)" profile, characterized by high emotional reactivity and poor regulatory control, display elevated internalizing symptoms by age 5 years. In contrast, children with an "emotionally and behaviorally regulated (EBR)" profile, marked by low emotional reactivity and effective self-regulation, are at lower risk for these problems (Xie et al., 2022). Despite these associations, the neural mechanisms linking temperament to psychopathology remain unclear. Frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) has been implicated as a neural correlate of emotion regulation, with more negative FAA (greater right frontal activation) linked to higher risk for anxiety and depression (Fox et al., 2005; Henriques & Davidson, 1990). Similarly, functional connectivity (FC) within key brain networks predicts individual differences in temperament and related behaviors. For example, connectivity alterations in the prefrontal-subcortical circuits have been linked to harm avoidance and novelty seeking in adults (Jiang et al., 2018; Markett et al., 2013), whereas amygdala-based FC in infants predicts behavioral inhibition and anxiety-related traits (Filippi et al., 2021). These studies underscore the need to study FAA and FC as potential mechanisms linking early temperament to psychopathology. Hypotheses: More negative FAA and weaker FC will be associated with EBD temperament in early childhood and greater internalizing symptoms in middle childhood. FAA and FC will mediate associations between early temperament and later internalizing problems. Study Population: A longitudinal community sample of children assessed from infancy to 7 years (N = 131). Methods: In a sample of typically developing children, we examined associations among temperament profiles measured at infancy, 2 years, and 3 years via the parent-report Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised/Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire; FAA and EEG source-space FC assessed at 3 years and 5 years; and psychopathology symptoms assessed via the age-relevant parent-report form of the Child Behavior Checklist at 5 years and 7 years. Results: Our findings revealed distinct neural patterns tied to different temperament profiles. Children who continuously exhibited the EBD profile from 2 years to 3 years displayed more negative FAA compared to those with an EBR profile. Early temperament profiles were also linked to theta-band FC within the control network at 3 years, with EBD children showing weaker FC compared to their EBR peers (Figure 1). Additionally, these neural markers were significantly correlated with internalizing symptoms. FAA at 5 years was negatively associated with internalizing problems at 7 years. Further, FAA at 5 years mediated the association of early temperament profiles with internalizing problems at 7 years (Figure 2). Alpha-band FC within the control network at 5 years was negatively associated with internalizing problems at 5 years and 7 years, although it did not significantly mediate the association between early temperament and later psychopathology. Conclusions: These findings shed light on neural mechanisms linking early temperament to later psychopathology. They underscore the potential for early identification and targeted interventions for at-risk children, paving the way for new strategies to mitigate socioemotional disorders. |
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Neural Biomarkers Underlying the Developmental Psychopathology of Internalizing Problems in Early Childhood
Submission Type
Paper Symposium
Description
| Session Title | Neural Biomarkers Underlying the Developmental Psychopathology of Internalizing Problems in Early Childhood |