Sex-specific neurodevelopmental pathways to depressive symptoms

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Psychiatry

Background:

• Sex differences in adolescent depression prevalence are well-documented.
• Sex-specific neurodevelopmental endophenotypes for depression may emerge in childhood.
• Early identification of these pathways is crucial for timely intervention.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate sex-specific neurodevelopmental trajectories in childhood.
• To examine the association between childhood structure-function coupling (SC-FC) and adolescent depressive symptoms.
• To determine if sex-specific models better explain these associations.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal multi-modal neuroimaging data collected at ages 4.5, 6.0, and 7.5 years.
• Neurodevelopment measured by structure-function coupling (SC-FC) in 114 cortical regions.
• Depressive symptoms assessed at age 13 using Child Depression Inventory (CDI), Youth Self Report (YSR), and Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children.
• Partial least squares correlation used to link brain data and depressive symptoms.

Main Results:

• Females reported significantly higher depressive symptoms than males at age 13.
• Whole cortex SC-FC exhibited sex-specific trajectories during childhood.
• Females showed a steeper decrease in SC-FC from ages 4.5 to 6.0 compared to males.
• Sex-specific models significantly improved prediction of adolescent depressive symptoms.

Conclusions:

• Evidence supports sex-specific neurodevelopmental pathways contributing to adolescent depression.
• Childhood SC-FC patterns differ between sexes and are associated with later depressive symptoms.
• Findings can inform the timing and targeting of interventions for childhood depression.