Psychotic-like Experiences and Polygenic Liability in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Genetics
• Developmental Psychology

Background:

• Childhood psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) are early indicators of severe psychopathology.
• Understanding the genetic and mechanistic underpinnings of childhood PLEs is crucial for early intervention.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between childhood PLEs and polygenic scores (PGSs) for various psychopathology-related traits.
• To explore potential neural and behavioral mechanisms, such as brain structure and cognitive performance, that may mediate the link between PGSs and PLEs.

Main Methods:

• Utilized baseline data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (N=4650, ages 9-10).
• Examined associations between PLEs and PGSs for schizophrenia, cross-disorder risk, PLEs, educational attainment, birth weight, and inflammation.
• Employed mediational models to assess indirect effects through brain structure indices and cognitive performance.

Main Results:

• Both total and distressing PLEs were significantly associated with PGSs for educational attainment and cross-disorder risk.
• Distressing PLEs showed significant associations with PGSs for schizophrenia and PLEs.
• Global brain volume and cognitive performance were found to indirectly link educational attainment PGS to PLEs.

Conclusions:

• Childhood PLEs are associated with genomic risk indices for broad psychopathology and psychosis.
• Brain structure and cognitive abilities may serve as intermediary phenotypes linking genetic risk to psychopathology.
• Polygenic scores developed in adult populations are applicable to assessing psychopathology risk in children.