The psychosocial relevance of longitudinal structural brain development in the transition from childhood to adulthood

Adolescence is a transitional period, recognized in virtually all human societies, that marks the transition from childhood to adulthood. Adolescents undergo substantial changes in psychological traits and behavior, and these changes are paralleled by considerable changes in brain structure and function. Most importantly, it is a period of both opportunities and risk, whereby substantial neural plasticity facilitates both learning and vulnerability to environmental factors. Many mental disorders start in adolescence and affect developmental trajectories throughout the lifespan. It is therefore of the uttermost importance to understand the developmental origins of brain-mind relations. Most existing knowledge, however, is derived from cross-sectional studies, which are not well suited to study developmental change. Using data from a unique dataset where children and adolescents were repeatedly assessed over a 7-year-period, this thesis aimed to investigate how psychosocial traits and behavior relate to longitudinal changes in brain structure, as derived from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Personality traits, prosocial behavior and emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) were examined because they are related to mental health, or even conceptualized as lying on a continuum with mental disorders, where psychopathology is lying at the extreme end of the continuum. Understanding how more and less healthy traits and behavior differentially relate to structural brain development may thus provide clues about the ontology of mental health and disorders. The first paper used data from the two initial assessments in the research project and demonstrated that more adaptive personality profiles, i.e. high emotional stability, imagination and conscientiousness, were related to greater regionally specific cortical thinning. Associations were also found between levels of extraversion, benevolence and conscientiousness and cortical surface area development. The second paper used up to three observations per individual and the results suggested that in regions previously linked to social cognition, value-based decision-making and behavioral control, higher prosociality is associated with greater cortical thinning during early-to-middle adolescence, followed by attenuation of this process during the transition to young adulthood. This implies that both rate and possibly timing of cortical thinning in these regions is related to prosocial behavior. The third paper, which also included up to three time points per individual, demonstrated that habitual use of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression were associated with cortical developmental patterns in distributed regions, but not with development of subcortical volumes. Together, the three papers suggest that examining change in macrostructural measures of brain structure by means of MRI is of relevance for the study of psychosocial traits and behavior across adolescence and understanding these brain-body relations may inform developmental theories

Changes in emotional and behavior problems, and brain morphometry following mild traumatic brain injury in early adolescence: A pre-post study design

International audienceStudies comparing children with and without a traumatic brain injury (TBI) have shown that pediatric TBI is associated with difficulties in a large range of functional domains, including emotion and behavior (Catroppa et al., 2015), as well as with changes in brain morphometry (King et al., 2019). However, whether these differences already existed before the injury remains an unsolved question. The large population-based Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study (Casey et al., 2018) provides a rare opportunity to explore it. This pre-post design study aims to examine changes in emotional and behavioral problems, and brain morphometry following pediatric mTBI. Given its exploratory nature, no a priori hypothesis is formulated

Changes in emotional and behavior problems, and brain morphometry following mild traumatic brain injury in early adolescence: A pre-post study design

International audienceIntroductionStudies comparing children with and without a traumatic brain injury (TBI) have shown that pediatric TBI is associated with difficulties in a large range of functional domains, including emotion and behavior (Catroppa et al., 2015), as well as with changes in brain morphometry (King et al., 2019). However, whether these differences already existed before the injury remains an unsolved question. The large population-based Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study (Casey et al., 2018) provides a rare opportunity to explore it.Objectives & hypothesisThis pre-post design study aims to examine changes in emotional and behavioral problems, and brain morphometry following pediatric mTBI. Given its exploratory nature, no a priori hypothesis is formulated.MethodsThe following baseline and 2-year follow-up data from the ABCD 4.0 curated data release will be used: 1) The Parent Ohio State TBI Screen-Short Modified report (Bogner et al., 2017) to identify children with no-TBI (n=6,394; baseline mean age = 9.9years; 3102 girls) and children who sustained a mild TBI between baseline and 2-year follow-up (n=132; baseline mean age = 9.9years; 58 girls); 2) The syndrome scales of the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000), and 3) Volumes and cortical thickness in 68 Desikan regions (Desikan et al., 2006) computed on T1-weighted images by the ABCD group. Scanner effects will be removed before analyses using longitudinal ComBat (Beer et al., 2020). Sex and parental education will be included as covariates.Analysis plan Multigroup latent change score models will be constructed with the lavaan 0.6-8 package (Rosseel, 2012) to estimate latent difference scores between baseline and follow-up for child behavior and brain structure. Group differences in 4 parameters of interest (mean of the baseline score, rate of change over time, and variances of the baseline and of the change) will be tested using chi-square difference tests (Kievit et al., 2018)

Changes in emotional and behavior problems, and brain morphometry following mild traumatic brain injury in early adolescence: A pre-post study design

International audienceStudies comparing children with and without a traumatic brain injury (TBI) have shown that pediatric TBI is associated with difficulties in a large range of functional domains, including emotion and behavior (Catroppa et al., 2015), as well as with changes in brain morphometry (King et al., 2019). However, whether these differences already existed before the injury remains an unsolved question. The large population-based Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study (Casey et al., 2018) provides a rare opportunity to explore it. This pre-post design study aims to examine changes in emotional and behavioral problems, and brain morphometry following pediatric mTBI. Given its exploratory nature, no a priori hypothesis is formulated

Changes in emotional and behavior problems, and brain morphometry following mild traumatic brain injury in early adolescence: A pre-post study design

International audienceIntroductionStudies comparing children with and without a traumatic brain injury (TBI) have shown that pediatric TBI is associated with difficulties in a large range of functional domains, including emotion and behavior (Catroppa et al., 2015), as well as with changes in brain morphometry (King et al., 2019). However, whether these differences already existed before the injury remains an unsolved question. The large population-based Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study (Casey et al., 2018) provides a rare opportunity to explore it.Objectives & hypothesisThis pre-post design study aims to examine changes in emotional and behavioral problems, and brain morphometry following pediatric mTBI. Given its exploratory nature, no a priori hypothesis is formulated.MethodsThe following baseline and 2-year follow-up data from the ABCD 4.0 curated data release will be used: 1) The Parent Ohio State TBI Screen-Short Modified report (Bogner et al., 2017) to identify children with no-TBI (n=6,394; baseline mean age = 9.9years; 3102 girls) and children who sustained a mild TBI between baseline and 2-year follow-up (n=132; baseline mean age = 9.9years; 58 girls); 2) The syndrome scales of the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000), and 3) Volumes and cortical thickness in 68 Desikan regions (Desikan et al., 2006) computed on T1-weighted images by the ABCD group. Scanner effects will be removed before analyses using longitudinal ComBat (Beer et al., 2020). Sex and parental education will be included as covariates.Analysis plan Multigroup latent change score models will be constructed with the lavaan 0.6-8 package (Rosseel, 2012) to estimate latent difference scores between baseline and follow-up for child behavior and brain structure. Group differences in 4 parameters of interest (mean of the baseline score, rate of change over time, and variances of the baseline and of the change) will be tested using chi-square difference tests (Kievit et al., 2018)

Changes in emotional and behavior problems, and brain morphometry following mild traumatic brain injury in early adolescence: A pre-post study design

International audience**Introduction**Studies comparing children with and without a traumatic brain injury (TBI) have shown that pediatric TBI is associated with difficulties in a large range of functional domains, including emotion and behavior (Catroppa et al., 2015), as well as with changes in brain morphometry (King et al., 2019). However, whether these differences already existed before the injury remains an unsolved question. The large population-based Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study (Casey et al., 2018) provides a rare opportunity to explore it.**Objectives & hypothesis**This pre-post design study aims to examine changes in emotional and behavioral problems, and brain morphometry following pediatric mTBI. Given its exploratory nature, no a priori hypothesis is formulated.**Methods**The following baseline and 2-year follow-up data from the ABCD 4.0 curated data release will be used: 1) The Parent Ohio State TBI Screen-Short Modified report (Bogner et al., 2017) to identify children with no-TBI (n=6,394; baseline mean age = 9.9years; 3102 girls) and children who sustained a mild TBI between baseline and 2-year follow-up (n=132; baseline mean age = 9.9years; 58 girls); 2) The syndrome scales of the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000), and 3) Volumes and cortical thickness in 68 Desikan regions (Desikan et al., 2006) computed on T1-weighted images by the ABCD group. Scanner effects will be removed before analyses using longitudinal ComBat (Beer et al., 2020). Sex and parental education will be included as covariates.**Analysis plan** Multigroup latent change score models will be constructed with the lavaan 0.6-8 package (Rosseel, 2012) to estimate latent difference scores between baseline and follow-up for child behavior and brain structure. Group differences in 4 parameters of interest (mean of the baseline score, rate of change over time, and variances of the baseline and of the change) will be tested using chi-square difference tests (Kievit et al., 2018)

Changes in emotional and behavior problems, and brain morphometry following mild traumatic brain injury in early adolescence: A pre-post study design

International audienceIntroductionStudies comparing children with and without a traumatic brain injury (TBI) have shown that pediatric TBI is associated with difficulties in a large range of functional domains, including emotion and behavior (Catroppa et al., 2015), as well as with changes in brain morphometry (King et al., 2019). However, whether these differences already existed before the injury remains an unsolved question. The large population-based Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study (Casey et al., 2018) provides a rare opportunity to explore it.Objectives & hypothesisThis pre-post design study aims to examine changes in emotional and behavioral problems, and brain morphometry following pediatric mTBI. Given its exploratory nature, no a priori hypothesis is formulated.MethodsThe following baseline and 2-year follow-up data from the ABCD 4.0 curated data release will be used: 1) The Parent Ohio State TBI Screen-Short Modified report (Bogner et al., 2017) to identify children with no-TBI (n=6,394; baseline mean age = 9.9years; 3102 girls) and children who sustained a mild TBI between baseline and 2-year follow-up (n=132; baseline mean age = 9.9years; 58 girls); 2) The syndrome scales of the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000), and 3) Volumes and cortical thickness in 68 Desikan regions (Desikan et al., 2006) computed on T1-weighted images by the ABCD group. Scanner effects will be removed before analyses using longitudinal ComBat (Beer et al., 2020). Sex and parental education will be included as covariates.Analysis plan Multigroup latent change score models will be constructed with the lavaan 0.6-8 package (Rosseel, 2012) to estimate latent difference scores between baseline and follow-up for child behavior and brain structure. Group differences in 4 parameters of interest (mean of the baseline score, rate of change over time, and variances of the baseline and of the change) will be tested using chi-square difference tests (Kievit et al., 2018)

Changes in emotional and behavior problems, and brain morphometry following mild traumatic brain injury in early adolescence: A pre-post study design

International audienceIntroductionStudies comparing children with and without a traumatic brain injury (TBI) have shown that pediatric TBI is associated with difficulties in a large range of functional domains, including emotion and behavior (Catroppa et al., 2015), as well as with changes in brain morphometry (King et al., 2019). However, whether these differences already existed before the injury remains an unsolved question. The large population-based Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study (Casey et al., 2018) provides a rare opportunity to explore it.Objectives & hypothesisThis pre-post design study aims to examine changes in emotional and behavioral problems, and brain morphometry following pediatric mTBI. Given its exploratory nature, no a priori hypothesis is formulated.MethodsThe following baseline and 2-year follow-up data from the ABCD 4.0 curated data release will be used: 1) The Parent Ohio State TBI Screen-Short Modified report (Bogner et al., 2017) to identify children with no-TBI (n=6,394; baseline mean age = 9.9years; 3102 girls) and children who sustained a mild TBI between baseline and 2-year follow-up (n=132; baseline mean age = 9.9years; 58 girls); 2) The syndrome scales of the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000), and 3) Volumes and cortical thickness in 68 Desikan regions (Desikan et al., 2006) computed on T1-weighted images by the ABCD group. Scanner effects will be removed before analyses using longitudinal ComBat (Beer et al., 2020). Sex and parental education will be included as covariates.Analysis plan Multigroup latent change score models will be constructed with the lavaan 0.6-8 package (Rosseel, 2012) to estimate latent difference scores between baseline and follow-up for child behavior and brain structure. Group differences in 4 parameters of interest (mean of the baseline score, rate of change over time, and variances of the baseline and of the change) will be tested using chi-square difference tests (Kievit et al., 2018)