Publications by Year: 2022

2022
Peverill, M., Dirks, M. A., Narvaja, T., Herts, K. L., Comer, J. S., & McLaughlin, K. A. (2022). Socioeconomic status and child psychopathology in the United States: A meta-analysis of population-based studies. Clinical Psychology Review , 83, 101933-101948. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Children raised in families with low socioeconomic status (SES) are more likely to exhibit symptoms of psychopathology. However, the strength of this association, the specific indices of SES most strongly associated with childhood psychopathology, and factors moderating the association are strikingly inconsistent across studies. We conducted a meta-analysis of 120 estimates of the association between family SES and child psychopathology in 13 population-representative cohorts of children studied in the US since 1980. Among 26,715 participants aged 3–19 years, we observed small to moderate associations of low family income (g = 0.19), low Hollingshead index (g = 0.21), low subjective SES (g = 0.24), low parental education (g = 0.25), poverty status (g = 0.25), and receipt of public assistance (g = 0.32) with higher levels of childhood psychopathology. Moderator testing revealed that receipt of public assistance showed an especially strong association with psychopathology and that SES was more strongly related to externalizing than internalizing psychopathology. Dispersion in our final, random effects, model suggested that the relation between SES and child psychopathology is likely to vary in different populations of children and in different communities. These findings highlight the need for additional research on the mechanisms of SES-related psychopathology risk in children in order to identify targets for potential intervention.
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Romeo, R. R., Flournoy, J. C., McLaughlin, K. A., & Lengua, L. J. (2022). Language development as a mechanism linking socioeconomic status to executive functioning development in preschool. Developmental Science , 25 (5), 13227-13239. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Childhood socioeconomic status (SES) is related to disparities in the development of both language and executive functioning (EF) skills. Emerging evidence suggests that language development may precede and provide necessary scaffolding for EF development in early childhood. The present preregistered study investigates how these skills co-develop longitudinally in early childhood and whether language development explains the relationship between SES and EF development. A socioeconomically diverse sample of 305 children completed repeated assessments of language (sentence comprehension) and EF (cognitive flexibility, behavioral inhibition, and cognitive inhibition) at four waves spaced 9 months apart from ages 3 to 5 years. Bivariate latent curve models with structured residuals were estimated to disaggregate between-person and within-person components of stability and change. Results revealed bidirectional relationships between language and EF across all waves. However, at 3 years, language comprehension more strongly predicted EF than the reverse; yet by 5 years, the bidirectional effects across domains did not significantly differ. Children from higher-SES backgrounds exhibited higher initial language and EF skills than children from lower-SES families, though SES was not associated with either rate of growth. Finally, early language-mediated the association between SES and early EF skills, and this model outperformed a reverse direction mediation. Together, results suggest that EF development is driven by early language development, and that SES disparities in EF are explained, at least in part, by early differences in language comprehension. These findings have implications for early interventions to support children's language skills as a potential pathway to improving early EF development.
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Lengua, L. J., Thompson, S. F., Kim, S. G., Rosen, M. L., Rodman, A. M., Kasparek, S. W., Mayes, M., et al. (2022). Maternal mental health mediates the effects of pandemic-related stressors on adolescent psychopathology during COVID-19. Journal and Child Psychology and Psychiatry , 63 (12), 1544-1552. Publisher's VersionAbstract

Background: This study examined whether COVID-19-related maternal mental health changes contributed to changes in adolescent psychopathology.

Methods: A community sample of 226 adolescents (12 years old before COVID-19) and their mothers were asked to complete COVID-19 surveys early in the pandemic (April–May 2020, adolescents 14 years) and approximately 6 months later (November 2020–January 2021). Surveys assessed pandemic-related stressors (health, financial, social, school, environment) and mental health.

Results: Lower prepandemic family income-to-needs ratio was associated with higher pre-pandemic maternal mental health symptoms (anxiety, depression) and adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems, and with experiencing more pandemic-related stressors. Pandemic-related stressors predicted increases in maternal mental health symptoms, but not adolescent symptoms when other variables were covaried. Higher maternal mental health symptoms predicted concurrent increases in adolescent internalizing and externalizing. Maternal mental health mediated the effects of pre-pandemic income and pandemic-related stressors on adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems.

Conclusions: Results indicate that adolescent mental health is closely tied to maternal mental health during community-level stressors such as COVID-19, and that pre-existing family economic context and adolescent symptoms increase risk for elevations in symptoms of psychopathology.

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DeCross, S. N., Sambrook, K. A., Sheridan, M. A., Tottenham, N., & McLaughlin, K. A. (2022). Dynamic alterations in neural networks supporting aversive learning in children exposed to trauma: Neural mechanisms underlying psychopathology. Biological Psychiatry , 91 (7), 667-675. Publisher's VersionAbstract

BACKGROUND: Altered aversive learning represents a potential mechanism through which childhood trauma (CT) might influence risk for psychopathology. This study examines the temporal dynamics of neural activation and patterns of functional connectivity during aversive learning in children with and without exposure to CT involving interpersonal violence and evaluates whether these neural patterns mediate the association of CT with psychopathology in a longitudinal design.

METHODS: A total of 147 children (aged 8–16 years, 77 with CT) completed a fear conditioning procedure during a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan. Dynamic patterns of neural activation were examined, and functional connectivity was assessed with generalized psychophysiological interaction analyses. We evaluated whether the associations between CT and psychopathology symptoms at baseline and 2-year follow-up were mediated by neural activation and connectivity during aversive learning.

RESULTS: Children exposed to trauma displayed blunted patterns of neural activation over time to the conditioned threat versus safety stimuli (CS1.CS2) in the right amygdala. In addition, trauma was associated with reduced functional connectivity of right amygdala with the hippocampus, posterior parahippocampal gyrus, and posterior cingulate cortex and with elevated connectivity with the anterior cingulate cortex to CS1.CS2. The longitudinal association between CT and later externalizing symptoms was mediated by blunted activation in the right amygdala. Reduced amygdala-hippocampal connectivity mediated the association of CT with transdiagnostic anxiety symptoms, and elevated amygdala–anterior cingulate cortex connectivity mediated the association of CT with generalized anxiety symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS: CT is associated with poor threat-safety discrimination and altered functional coupling between salience and default mode network regions during aversive learning. These altered dynamics may be key mechanisms linking CT with distinct forms of psychopathology

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McLaughlin, K. A., & Gabard-Durnam, L. (2022). Experience-driven plasticity and the emergence of psychopathology: A mechanistic framework integrating development and the environment into the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) model. Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science , 131 (6), 575-587. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Despite the clear importance of a developmental perspective for understanding the emergence of psychopathology across the life-course, such a perspective has yet to be integrated into the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) model. In this paper, we articulate a framework that incorporates developmentally specific learning mechanisms that reflect experience-driven plasticity as additional units of analysis in the existing RDoC matrix. These include both experience-expectant learning mechanisms that occur during sensitive periods of development and experience-dependent learning mechanisms that may exhibit substantial variation across development. Incorporating these learning mechanisms allows for clear integration not only of development but also environmental experience into the RDoC model. We demonstrate how individual differences in environmental experiences—such as early life adversity—can be leveraged to identify experience-driven plasticity patterns across development and apply this framework to consider how environmental experience shapes key biobehavioral processes that comprise the RDoC model. This framework provides a structure for understanding how affective, cognitive, social, and neurobiological processes are shaped by experience across development and ultimately contribute to the emergence of psychopathology. We demonstrate how incorporating an experience-driven plasticity framework is critical for understanding the development of many processes subsumed within the RDoC model, which will contribute to greater understanding of developmental variation in the etiology of psychopathology and can be leveraged to identify potential windows of heightened developmental plasticity when clinical interventions might be maximally efficacious. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
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Berman, I., McLaughlin, K., Tottenham, N., Godfrey, K., Seeman, T., Loucks, E., Suomi, S., et al. (2022). Measuring early life adversity: A dimensional approach. Development and Psychology , 34, 499-511. Publisher's VersionAbstract

Exposure to adversity in childhood is associated with elevations in numerous physical and mental health outcomes across the life course. The biological embedding of early experience during periods of developmental plasticity is one pathway that contributes to these associations. Dimensional models specify mechanistic pathways linking different dimensions of adversity to health and well-being outcomes later in life. While findings from existing studies testing these dimensions have provided promising preliminary support for these models, less agreement exists about how to measure the experiences that comprise each dimension. Here, we review existing approaches to measuring two dimensions of adversity: threat and deprivation. We recommend specific measures for measuring these constructs and, when possible, document when the same measure can be used by different reporters and across the lifespan to maximize the utility with which these recommendations can be applied. Through this approach, we hope to stimulate progress in understanding how particular dimensions of early environmental experience contribute to lifelong health.

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Rodman, A., Rosen, M., Kasperek, S., Mayes, M., Lengua, L., Meltzoff, A., & McLaughlin, K. (2022). Social experiences and youth psychopathology during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal studySocial behavior and youth psychopathology during the COVID-19 dyongitudinal study. Development and Psychopathology , 1-13. Publisher's VersionAbstract

The early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated stay-at-home orders resulted in a stark reduction in daily social interactions for children and adolescents. Given that peer relationships are especially important during this developmental stage, it is crucial to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on social behavior and risk for psychopathology in children and adolescents. In a longitudinal sample (N=224) of children (7-10y) and adolescents (13-15y) assessed at three strategic time points (before the pandemic, during the initial stay-at-home order period, and six months later after the initial stay-at-home order period was lifted), we examine whether certain social factors protect against increases in stress-related psychopathology during the pandemic, controlling for pre-pandemic symptoms. Youth who reported less in-person and digital socialization, greater social isolation, and less social support had worsened psychopathology during the pandemic. Greater social isolation and decreased digital socialization during the pandemic were associated with greater risk for psychopathology after experiencing pandemic-related stressors. In addition, children, but not adolescents, who maintained some in-person socialization were less likely to develop internalizing symptoms following exposure to pandemic-related stressors. We identify social factors that promote well-being and resilience in youth during this societal event.

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Sun, D., ..,, McLaughlin, K., & et. al,. (2022). A comparison of methods to harmonize cortical thickness measurements across scanners and sites. NeuroImage , 261, 1 - 19. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Results of neuroimaging datasets aggregated from multiple sites may be biased by site-specific profiles in participants’ demographic and clinical characteristics, as well as MRI acquisition protocols and scanning platforms. We compared the impact of four different harmonization methods on results obtained from analyses of cortical thickness data: (1) linear mixed-effects model (LME) that models site-specific random intercepts (LMEINT), (2) LME that models both site-specific random intercepts and age-related random slopes (LMEINT+SLP), (3) ComBat, and (4) ComBat with a generalized additive model (ComBat-GAM). Our test case for comparing harmonization methods was cortical thickness data aggregated from 29 sites, which included 1,340 cases with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (6.2–81.8 years old) and 2,057 trauma-exposed controls without PTSD (6.3–85.2 years old). We found that, compared to the other data harmonization methods, data processed with ComBat-GAM was more sensitive to the detection of significant case-control differences (Χ2(3) = 63.704, p < 0.001) as well as case-control differences in age-related cortical thinning (Χ2(3) = 12.082, p = 0.007). Both ComBat and ComBat-GAM outperformed LME methods in detecting sex differences (Χ2(3) = 9.114, p = 0.028) in regional cortical thickness. ComBat-GAM also led to stronger estimates of age-related declines in cortical thickness (corrected p-values < 0.001), stronger estimates of case-related cortical thickness reduction (corrected p-values < 0.001), weaker estimates of age-related declines in cortical thickness in cases than controls (corrected p-values < 0.001), stronger estimates of cortical thickness reduction in females than males (corrected p-values < 0.001), and stronger estimates of cortical thickness reduction in females relative to males in cases than controls (corrected p-values < 0.001). Our results support the use of ComBat-GAM to minimize confounds and increase statistical power when harmonizing data with non-linear effects, and the use of either ComBat or ComBat-GAM for harmonizing data with linear effects.
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van Velzen, L., ..,, McLaughlin, K., & et. al,. (2022). Structural brain alterations associated with suicidal thoughts and behaviors in young people: results from 21 international studies from the ENIGMA Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviours consortium. Molecular Psychiatry , 27, 4550–4560. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Identifying brain alterations associated with suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) in young people is critical to understanding their development and improving early intervention and prevention. The ENIGMA Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviours (ENIGMA-STB) consortium analyzed neuroimaging data harmonized across sites to examine brain morphology associated with STBs in youth. We performed analyses in three separate stages, in samples ranging from most to least homogeneous in terms of suicide assessment instrument and mental disorder. First, in a sample of 577 young people with mood disorders, in which STBs were assessed with the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS). Second, in a sample of young people with mood disorders, in which STB were assessed using different instruments, MRI metrics were compared among healthy controls without STBs (HC; N = 519), clinical controls with a mood disorder but without STBs (CC; N = 246) and young people with current suicidal ideation (N = 223). In separate analyses, MRI metrics were compared among HCs (N = 253), CCs (N = 217), and suicide attempters (N = 64). Third, in a larger transdiagnostic sample with various assessment instruments (HC = 606; CC = 419; Ideation = 289; HC = 253; CC = 432; Attempt=91). In the homogeneous C-SSRS sample, surface area of the frontal pole was lower in young people with mood disorders and a history of actual suicide attempts (N = 163) than those without a lifetime suicide attempt (N = 323; FDR-p = 0.035, Cohen’s d = 0.34). No associations with suicidal ideation were found. When examining more heterogeneous samples, we did not observe significant associations. Lower frontal pole surface area may represent a vulnerability for a (non-interrupted and non-aborted) suicide attempt; however, more research is needed to understand the nature of its relationship to suicide risk.
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Clayton, M., Renna, M. E., Klemanski, D., Kerns, C., & McLaughlin, K. (2022). The Impact of Emotion Regulation on the Relationship Between Momentary Negative Affect and End-of-Day Worry and Rumination. Cognitive Therapy and Research , 47, 94-108. Publisher's VersionAbstract

Background

Negative self-referential processing (NSRP), including worry and rumination, is a hallmark feature of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Negative affect relates to NSRP, and emotion regulation skills (e.g., reappraisal and acceptance) may attenuate this relationship. This ecological momentary assessment study explored whether increased emotion regulation skills use would alter associations between daily fluctuations of negative affect and end-of-day NSRP.

Methods

Participants were 99 young adults (Mage = 19.94; SD = 1.81), diagnosed with GAD (n = 48) and healthy controls (n = 51). They provided twice daily ratings of negative affect, reappraisal, and acceptance over 14 days, and end-of-day ratings of NSRP. Mixed linear models adjusted for covariates, including state-level worry and rumination.

Results

Individuals with GAD reported higher levels of negative than controls, and high negative affect corresponded to greater end-of-day NSRP across all participants. Increased emotion regulation skills altered the relationship between increased negative affect and higher NSRP, though this did not differ by group. Acceptance and reappraisal differentially affected associations between negative affect and NSRP.

Conclusions

Findings suggest that emotion regulation skills moderate the relationship between negative affect and end-of-day NSRP, highlighting the utility of using reappraisal and acceptance in daily life. This could eventually lead to improvements in treating GAD.

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Garcini, L., Arredondo, M., Berry, O., Church, J., Fryberg, S., Thomason, M., & McLaughlin, K. (2022). Increasing diversity in developmental cognitive neuroscience: A roadmap for increasing representation in pediatric neuroimaging research . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2022.101167 , 58, 1 - 11. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Understanding of human brain development has advanced rapidly as the field of developmental cognitive neuroscience (DCN) has matured into an established scientific discipline. Despite substantial progress, DCN lags behind other related disciplines in terms of diverse representation, standardized reporting requirements for socio-demographic characteristics of participants in pediatric neuroimaging studies, and use of intentional sampling strategies to more accurately represent the socio-demographic, ethnic, and racial composition of the populations from which participants are sampled. Additional efforts are needed to shift DCN towards a more inclusive field that facilitates the study of individual differences across a variety of cultural and contextual experiences. In this commentary, we outline and discuss barriers within our current scientific practice (e.g., research methods) and beliefs (i.e., what constitutes good science, good scientists, and good research questions) that contribute to under-representation and limited diversity within pediatric neuroimaging studies and propose strategies to overcome those barriers. We discuss strategies to address barriers at intrapersonal, interpersonal, community, systemic, and structural levels. Highlighting strength-based models of inclusion and recognition of the value of diversity in DCN research, along with acknowledgement of the support needed to diversify the field is critical for advancing understanding of neurodevelopment and reducing health inequities.
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Hatzenbuehler, M., McLaughlin, K., Weissman, D., & Cikara, M. (2022). Community-level explicit racial prejudice potentiates whites’ neural responses to black faces: A spatial meta-analysis. Social Neuroscience , 1-17. Publisher's VersionAbstract

We evaluated the hypothesis that neural responses to racial out-group members vary systematically based on the level of racial prejudice in the surrounding community. To do so, we conducted a spatial meta-analysis, which included a comprehensive set of studies (k = 22; N = 481). Specifically, we tested whether community-level racial prejudice moderated neural activation to Black (vs. White) faces in primarily White participants. Racial attitudes, obtained from Project Implicit, were aggregated to the county (k = 17; N = 10,743) in which each study was conducted. Multi-level kernel density analysis demonstrated that significant differences in neural activation to Black (vs. White) faces in right amygdala, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex were detected more often in communities with higher (vs. lower) levels of explicit (but not implicit) racial prejudice. These findings advance social-cognitive neuroscience by identifying aspects of macro-social contexts that may alter neural responses to out-group members.

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Kim, H. H., McLaughlin, K., Chibnik, L. B., Koenen, K. C., & Timelier, H. (2022). Poverty, Cortical Structure, and Psychopathologic Characteristics in Adolescence. JAMA Network Open , 5 (11), 1-12. Publisher's VersionAbstract

IMPORTANCE Childhood poverty has been associated with increased internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescence, a period of peak onset for psychiatric problems. The underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear because longitudinal studies of poverty, brain structure, and changes in psychiatric symptoms are lacking.

OBJECTIVE To examine whether structural differences in cortical regions mediate the association between household poverty and change in psychiatric symptoms in early adolescence.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This longitudinal cohort study used baseline and 1-year follow-up data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study. Children aged 9 to 10 years in the US were enrolled between September 1, 2016, and October 15, 2018. Data analysis was performed from August 13, 2021, to September 30, 2022.

EXPOSURES Household poverty as measured by income-to-needs ratio, which incorporates family income and adjusts for family size as a percentage of the federal poverty level.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Mediators were children’s cortical surface area, thickness, and

volume, obtained usingmagnetic resonance imaging. Internalizing and externalizing problems at

1-year follow-up were outcomes measured by maternal report using the Child Behavior Checklist. Analyses were adjusted for baseline psychiatric problems and sociodemographic variables, including sex, race and ethnicity, parental educational level, and study site.

RESULTS Of the 7569 children (mean [SD] age, 9.91 [0.62] years; 3970 boys [52.5%]) included in the analysis, 1042 children (13.8%) lived below the poverty threshold between 2016 and 2018. Poverty was associated with increased externalizing symptoms score at 1-year follow-up (b = 1.57; 95%CI, 1.14-1.99), even after adjustment for baseline externalizing symptoms (b = 0.35; 95%CI, 0.06-0.64). The longitudinal associations of poverty with increases in externalizing problems over time were mediated by reductions in surface area in multiple cortical regions that support executive functioning (middle frontal gyrus), decision-making (lateral orbitofrontal cortex), visual processing (fusiform gyrus), auditory processing (transverse temporal gyrus), and emotion and language processing (superior temporal gyrus).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE The findings of this study suggest that childhood poverty is associated with increases in externalizing problems, but not internalizing problems, over time in early adolescence. This association is mediated by reductions in cortical surface area across numerous brain regions. These findings highlight potential neurobiological mechanisms underlying the link between poverty and the emergence of externalizing problems during early adolescence.

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Arrendo, M., Garcini, L., & MaLaughlin, K. (2022). Integration of Diversity and Equity Frameworks to Advance Biological Psychiatry. Biological Psychiatry , 7 (12), 1198-1199. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Environmental experiences play a powerful role in shaping mental health across the life course. Exposure to trauma, socioeconomic disadvantage, and other forms of chronic stress and adversity are associated with elevated risk for multiple forms of psychopathology throughout development. Biological psychiatry research has revealed that alterations in brain structure and function are key mechanisms through which adverse environmental experiences contribute to the emergence of psychopathology. Characterizing the neurobiological pathways that underlie the links between adverse experiences and the onset of mental disorders is an active and burgeoning area of research.
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Berman, I., McLaughlin, K., Tottenham, N., Godfrey, K., Seeman, T., Loucks, E., Soumi, S., et al. (2022). Measuring early life adversity: A dimensional approach . Development and Psychopathology , 34 (2), 499 - 511. Publisher's VersionAbstract

Exposure to adversity in childhood is associated with elevations in numerous physical and mental health outcomes across the life course. The biological embedding of early experience during periods of developmental plasticity is one pathway that contributes to these associations. Dimensional models specify mechanistic pathways linking different dimensions of adversity to health and well-being outcomes later in life. While findings from existing studies testing these dimensions have provided promising preliminary support for these models, less agreement exists about how to measure the experiences that comprise each dimension. Here, we review existing approaches to measuring two dimensions of adversity: threat and deprivation. We recommend specific measures for measuring these constructs and, when possible, document when the same measure can be used by different reporters and across the lifespan to maximize the utility with which these recommendations can be applied. Through this approach, we hope to stimulate progress in understanding how particular dimensions of early environmental experience contribute to lifelong health.

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Sheridan, M., Mukerji, C., Wade, M., Humphreys, K., Garrisi, K., Goel, S., Patel, K., et al. (2022). Early deprivation alters structural brain development from middle childhood to adolescence. Science Advances , 1-13. Publisher's VersionAbstract

Hypotheses concerning the biologic embedding of early adversity via developmental neuroplasticity mechanisms have been proposed on the basis of experimental studies in animals. However, no studies have demonstrated a causal link between early adversity and neural development in humans. Here, we present evidence from a randomized controlled trial linking psychosocial deprivation in early childhood to changes in cortical development from childhood to adolescence using longitudinal data from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project. Changes in cortical structure due to randomization to foster care were most pronounced in the lateral and medial prefrontal cortex and in white matter tracts connecting the prefrontal and parietal cortex. Demonstrating the causal impact of exposure to deprivation on the development of neural structure highlights the importance of early placement into family-based care to mitigate lasting neurodevelopmental consequences associated with early-life deprivation.

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Humphreys, K., King, L., Guyon-Harris, K., Sheridan, M., McLaughlin, K., Radulescu, A., Nelson, C., et al. (2022). Foster care leads to sustained cognitive gains following severeearly deprivation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 119 (38), 1-6. Publisher's VersionAbstract

This study examined longitudinal data from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project, a randomized controlled trial of foster care as an alternative to institutional care following exposure to severe psychosocial deprivation. We report data from 135 participants assessed in early adulthood (age 18 y). We find that 16 y after randomization occurred, those who had been randomized to high-quality foster care had significantly higher IQ scores (9 points, 0.6 SD) than those randomized to care as usual. Mediation analyses provide evidence that the causal effect of the intervention on cognitive ability in early adulthood could be explained, in part, by higher-quality caregiving and attachment security. These findings indicate that early investment in family care as an alternative to institutional care leads to sustained gains in cognitive ability. Fostering caregiving relationships is a likely mechanism of the intervention. In addition, exploratory analyses indicate that stable placements throughout childhood are associated with the greatest long-term gains in cognitive ability. Whether early interventions for infants and young children lead to lasting change has significant implications for decisions to invest in programs aimed at improving children’s developmental outcomes.

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Wade, M., Parsons, J., Humphreys, K., McLaughlin, K., Sheridan, M., Zeanah, C., Nelson, C., et al. (2022). The Bucharest Early Intervention Project: Adolescent mental health and adaptation following early deprivation. Child Development Perspectives , 154 - 164. Publisher's VersionAbstract

 

Over the last 20 years, we have learned much about the extent to which early-life deprivation affects the mental health of children and adolescents. This body of evidence comes predominantly from studies of children raised in institutional care. The Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP) is the only randomized controlled trial designed to evaluate whether the transition to family-based foster care early in development can ameliorate the long-term impact of institutional deprivation on psychopathology during vulnerable developmental windows such as adolescence. In this review, we detail the extent to which early deprivation affects mental health during this period, the capacity of family-based care to facilitate recovery from early deprivation, and the mechanisms underpinning these effects spanning social–emotional, cognitive, stress, and neurobiological domains. We end by discussing the implications and directions for the BEIP and other studies of youth raised in institutions.

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McLaughlin, K., Rosen, M., Kasparek, S., & Rodman, A. (2022). Stress-related psychopathology during the COVID-19 pandemic. Behaviour Research and Therapy , 154, 1-11. Publisher's VersionAbstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced widespread societal changes that have required ongoing adaptation. Unsurprisingly, stress-related psychopathology has increased during the pandemic, in both children and adults. We review these patterns through the lens of several leading conceptual models of the link between stress and psychopathology. Some of these models focus on characteristics of environmental stressors—including cumulative risk, specific stressor types, and stress sensitization approaches. Understanding the specific aspects of environmental stressors that are most likely to lead to psychopathology can shed light on who may be in most need of clinical intervention. Other models center on factors that can buffer against the onset of psychopathology following stress and the mechanisms through which stressors contribute to emergent psychopathology. These models highlight specific psychosocial processes that may be most usefully targeted by interventions to reduce stress-related psychopathology. We review evidence for each of these stress models in the context of other widescale community-level disruptions, like natural disasters and terrorist attacks, alongside emerging evidence for these stress pathways from the COVID-19 pandemic. We discuss clinical implications for developing interventions to reduce stress-related psychopathology during the pandemic, with a focus on brief, digital interventions that may be more accessible than traditional clinical services.
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Maihofer, A. X., & et. al,. (2022). Enhancing discovery of genetic variants for posttraumatic stress disorder through integration of quantitative phenotypes and trauma exposure information. Biological Psychiatry , 91 (7), 626 - 636. Publisher's VersionAbstract

Background

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is heritable and a potential consequence of exposure to traumatic stress. Evidence suggests that a quantitative approach to PTSD phenotype measurement and incorporation of lifetime trauma exposure (LTE) information could enhance the discovery power of PTSD genome-wide association studies (GWASs).

Methods

A GWAS on PTSD symptoms was performed in 51 cohorts followed by a fixed-effects meta-analysis (N = 182,199 European ancestry participants). A GWAS of LTE burden was performed in the UK Biobank cohort (N = 132,988). Genetic correlations were evaluated with linkage disequilibrium score regression. Multivariate analysis was performed using Multi-Trait Analysis of GWAS. Functional mapping and annotation of leading loci was performed with FUMA. Replication was evaluated using the Million Veteran Program GWAS of PTSD total symptoms.

Results

GWASs of PTSD symptoms and LTE burden identified 5 and 6 independent genome-wide significant loci, respectively. There was a 72% genetic correlation between PTSD and LTE. PTSD and LTE showed largely similar patterns of genetic correlation with other traits, albeit with some distinctions. Adjusting PTSD for LTE reduced PTSD heritability by 31%. Multivariate analysis of PTSD and LTE increased the effective sample size of the PTSD GWAS by 20% and identified 4 additional loci. Four of these 9 PTSD loci were independently replicated in the Million Veteran Program.

Conclusions

Through using a quantitative trait measure of PTSD, we identified novel risk loci not previously identified using prior case-control analyses. PTSD and LTE have a high genetic overlap that can be leveraged to increase discovery power through multivariate methods.

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