Association of Habenula Activity and Volume with Pediatric Irritability: Investigation of Inconsistent Parenting as a...

Irritability significantly impacts the mental health and well-being of youth and their families and is associated with adverse concurrent and future outcomes. Brain abnormalities in the reward system are a potential mechanism underlying irritability. However, the habenula, a region closely linked to reward processing, has not been investigated in youth irritability. Additionally, previous research has rarely explored how inconsistent parenting interacts with neurobiological factors to contribute to youth irritability. Thus, this study examined the associations of habenula activity and volume with irritability and the moderating role of inconsistent parenting in these associations.

Habenula activity and volume in 50 youth with varying levels of irritability (mean age ± standard deviation = 11.3 ± 2.0 years; 44% female) were measured during a frustration-inducing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm. Trait irritability was assessed using the parent- and child-reported Affective Reactivity Index. State irritability was measured using child-reported frustration during fMRI. Inconsistent parenting was assessed using the parent-reported Alabama Parenting Questionnaire.

At the unadjusted level, results showed interactions between left habenula volume and inconsistent parenting on child-reported trait irritability (ΔR² = 0.19, b = 0.15, p = 0.006) and state irritability (ΔR² = 0.16, b = 0.32, p = 0.026), which became nonsignificant following false discovery rate (FDR) correction. No main effects of habenula activity or volume on trait or state irritability were found.

This preliminary study examined the role of the habenula in youth irritability in the context of inconsistent parenting. Neither habenula activity nor volume was directly associated with irritability, and the moderation findings did not survive FDR correction. Future research with larger, longitudinal samples is needed to replicate these preliminary findings and further examine environmental factors and their interactions with neurobiological factors in relation to pediatric irritability.