Functional connectomes linking child-parent relationships with psychological problems in adolescence

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Psychiatry

Background:

• Child-parent relationships are crucial for adolescent well-being and functional outcomes.
• Existing research suggests differential associations between parent-child relationships and psychobehavioral problems in boys and girls.
• Neuroimaging can elucidate the complex links between parent-child relationships and adolescent mental health.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the sex-specific effects of child-father and child-mother relationships on brain structure and psychobehavioral problems in adolescents.
• To explore the triad of associations among child-parent relationships, brain function, and psychobehavioral outcomes.
• To identify potential sex-dependent mechanisms underlying these associations.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a dataset of 93 adolescents aged 10-13 years.
• Employed general linear models to identify paternal and maternal functional brain connectomes (FBCs).
• Applied connectome-based predictive modeling (CPM) to predict internalizing and externalizing problems from FBCs, alongside causal discovery methods.

Main Results:

• CPM successfully predicted girls' internalizing problems and, with a liberal threshold, boys' aggression.
• Control analyses confirmed the specificity of FBCs linked to parent relationships.
• Causal discovery identified a path from daughter-mother relationship to maternal FBC and then to daughter's internalizing problems.

Conclusions:

• Child-parent relationships, brain function, and psychobehavioral problems are intricately linked in early adolescence.
• These associations exhibit sex-dependent mechanisms, highlighting differential impacts of paternal and maternal relationships on boys and girls.
• Findings underscore the importance of considering sex and specific parent-child dyad in understanding adolescent mental health development.