Psychopathology in the Transition to Adolescence: The Interacting Roles of Resting-State Functional Brain Connectivity and Positive Parenting Practices

Abstract

The transition to adolescence is a time of remarkable opportunity to support mental health and prevent or intervene on psychopathology. This developmental period is characterized by multiple simultaneous biological and social shifts, and an increased emergence of mental health disorders. Understanding how biological factors, such as brain functioning, interact longitudinally with social factors, such as parenting practices, in the transition to adolescence is critical for supporting mental health across the lifespan. There is a rich literature studying the impact of parental relationships on childhood mental health. However, this research is limited for the adolescent stage despite evidence that parents remain central to adolescent functioning. This dissertation aimed to examine longitudinal relationships between resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC), parenting practices, and psychopathology from ages 10- to 12-years old. Using data from the large-scale, national, ongoing Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, the current analyses examined: 1) the relationship between RSFC at age 10 and total psychopathology two years later; 2) the main and moderating roles of parental acceptance, parental monitoring, and family conflict at age 11; 3) whether these relationships varied based on exposure to adversity. A split-half study design was employed, enabling a series of exploratory linear mixed-effects analyses in the discovery sample (n=3,280) and cross-validation in the replication sample (3,279). Results suggested that higher psychopathology scores could be predicted by patterns of connectivity between the cingulo-opercular and frontoparietal networks, sensorimotor and frontoparietal networks, and sensorimotor and visual networks two years prior. When analyses were conducted including parenting practices, multiple new network pairs were shown to predict psychopathology, suggesting that “adaptive” or “atypical” patterns of connectivity are context-dependent. Across the three indices, parenting moderated the trajectories of the default mode network, as well as attentional, sensory, and cognitive control networks. Family conflict had the greatest number of significant associations. This study did not find these relationships to vary based on youth exposure to adversity. Possible interpretations and implications for these results are discussed. Overall, findings elucidate reliable longitudinal relationships between functional brain connectivity, parenting practices, and psychopathology in the transition to adolescence. This dissertation supports the need for ongoing research on interacting social and biological systems in adolescence to support and promote healthy functioning across the lifespan.