Persistent and distressing psychotic-like experiences using adolescent brain cognitive development℠ study data

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Child Psychiatry
• Developmental Psychology

Background:

• Childhood psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) can indicate future psychiatric disorders.
• Distress and persistence are key factors differentiating benign from clinically relevant PLEs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between persistent and/or distressing PLEs and baseline risk factors, functioning, and mental health service utilization.
• To understand how distress and persistence interact in relation to impairments in youth.

Main Methods:

• Utilized three waves of data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study.
• Created four groups based on PLEs persistence and distress: persistent distressing, transient distressing, persistent non-distressing, and transient non-distressing.
• Employed hierarchical linear models to analyze associations.

Main Results:

• Distressing PLEs (transient or persistent) were associated with delayed developmental milestones and altered structural MRI metrics.
• Distress and persistence interacted, with the persistent distressing PLEs group showing the most significant impairments across functioning, psychopathology, cognition, and environmental adversity.
• Family history did not show significant effects.

Conclusions:

• Distress is a critical factor, often mediating the relationship between persistent PLEs and impairments.
• Findings highlight the importance of considering both distress and persistence when assessing the clinical relevance of childhood PLEs.
• These results inform clinical evaluation and intervention strategies for youth with PLEs.