Examining inflammation, health, stress and lifestyle variables linking low socioeconomic status with poorer cognitive functioning during adolescence

Higher C-reactive protein (CRP) is associated with cognitive difficulties. The nature of this association remains unclear given that multiple other variables are linked with both CRP and cognitive difficulties, which may confound the association. The goal of the current study is to determine whether low socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with worse cognitive functioning via higher CRP and whether this association is independent of known associations with other health, stress and lifestyle factors (e.g., depression, physical activity, body mass). Assessments in a longitudinal study of 1,029 Dutch adolescents were based on a combination of self-report and parent-report questionnaires, diagnostic assessment, behavioral testing, and blood assay. We estimated latent variables for cognitive functioning (executive functioning, verbal fluency, episodic memory) and used structural equation analysis to test whether SES (wave 1: 11.08 years (SD=0.55); 55% female] was associated with worse cognitive outcomes (wave 4: aged 18.97 years; SD=0.55) via increased CRP, depression, stress, body mass, substance use or physical inactivity (wave 3: aged 16.17 years; SD=0.61). Low SES was associated with worse cognitive functioning via increased CRP. Additionally, low SES was associated with (i) worse executive func-tioning via higher body mass, higher levels of sedentary behavior, and higher stress, (ii) worse verbal fluency via higher levels of sedentary behavior and (iii) worse episodic memory via sedentary behaviors, body mass, and substance use. These results confirm the link between SES, CRP and cognitive functioning and additionally identify four modifiable lifestyle factors that may be implicated in the link between low SES and worse per-formance on tests of cognitive functioning

Stress-related exposures amplify the effects of genetic susceptibility on depression and anxiety

It is unclear whether and to what extent stress-related exposures moderate the effects of polygenic risk scores (PRSs) on depression and anxiety. We aimed to examine such moderation effects for a variety of stress-related exposures on depression and anxiety. We included 41,810 participants with both genome-wide genetic data and measurements of depression and anxiety in the Lifelines Cohort Study. Current depression and anxiety were measured by the MINI International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Stress-related exposures included long-term difficulties, stressful life events, reduced social support, childhood trauma, and loneliness, which were measured by self-report questionnaires. PRSs were calculated based on recent large genome-wide association studies for depression and anxiety. We used linear mixed models adjusting for family relationships to estimate the interactions between PRSs and stress-related exposures. Nine of the ten investigated interactions between the five stress-related exposures and the two PRSs for depression and anxiety were significant (Ps &lt; 0.001). Reduced social support, and higher exposure to long-term difficulties, stressful life events, and loneliness amplified the genetic effects on both depression and anxiety. As for childhood trauma exposure, its interaction with the PRS was significant for depression (P = 1.78 × 10 -05) but not for anxiety (P = 0.32). Higher levels of stress-related exposures significantly amplify the effects of genetic susceptibility on depression and anxiety. With a large sample size and a comprehensive set of stress-related exposures, our study provides powerful evidence on the presence of polygenic risk-by-environment interactions in relation to depression and anxiety. </p

Children's Pronoun Interpretation Problems Are Related to Theory of Mind and Inhibition, But Not Working Memory

In several languages, including English and Dutch, children’s acquisition of the interpretation of object pronouns (e.g., him) is delayed compared to that of reflexives (e.g., himself). Various syntactic and pragmatic explanations have been proposed to account for this delay in children’s acquisition of pronoun interpretation. This study aims to provide more insight into this delay by investigating potential cognitive mechanisms underlying this delay. Dutch-speaking children between 6 and 12 years old with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; n = 47), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; n = 36) or typical development (TD; n = 38) were tested on their interpretation and production of object pronouns and reflexives and on theory of mind, working memory, and response inhibition. It was found that all three groups of children had difficulty with pronoun interpretation and that their performance on pronoun interpretation was associated with theory of mind and inhibition. These findings support an explanation of object pronoun interpretation in terms of perspective taking, according to which listeners need to consider the speaker’s perspective in order to block coreference between the object pronoun and the subject of the same sentence. Unlike what is predicted by alternative theoretical accounts, performance on pronoun interpretation was not associated with working memory, and the children made virtually no errors in their production of object pronouns. As the difficulties with pronoun interpretation were similar for children with ASD, children with ADHD and typically developing children, this suggests that certain types of perspective taking are unaffected in children with ASD and ADHD

Reward Sensitivity at Age 13 Predicts the Future Course of Psychopathology Symptoms

BACKGROUND: There are numerous observations of reward sensitivity being associated with different psychiatric disorders. Nonetheless, most studies investigating this relationship have been cross-sectional. Additionally, current knowledge is fragmentary as studies often investigate only one disorder at a time. The present study addresses these gaps by investigating whether reward sensitivity at age 13 predicts the course of nine psychopathology domains (attention and hyperactivity, autism spectrum, reactive aggression, proactive aggression, mood, anxiety, smoking, alcohol use, and cannabis use) over a 14-year follow-up period. METHODS: We used dimensional outcomes on 2,523 individuals over five measurement waves between ages 13 and 26 of the Dutch Tracking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS). Reward sensitivity was measured with the Behavioral Activation System (BAS) scale. The longitudinal associations between reward sensitivity and psychopathology were examined using growth curve analysis within a multilevel framework. RESULTS: Reward sensitivity at age 13 was associated with changes in psychopathology over time. Reward sensitivity had a stable main effect on the future course of reactive and proactive aggression problems and anxiety problems. The effect of reward sensitivity increased over time for alcohol and cannabis use. Post-hoc analyses showed that reward sensitivity also had a stable effect on attention problems and hyperactivity and smoking when based on the fun-seeking subscale for both domains and when changing the informant who reported on attention problems and hyperactivity. No evidence was found for a longitudinal association between reward sensitivity and autism spectrum problems and mood problems. CONCLUSION: The current study provides evidence for the long-lasting effects of reward sensitivity on the course of different domains of psychopathology

Chronic Stressors and Adolescents' Externalizing Problems:Genetic Moderation by Dopamine Receptor D4. The TRAILS Study

The existing literature does not provide consistent evidence that carriers of the Dopamine D4 Receptor 7-repeat allele are more sensitive to adverse environmental influences, resulting in enhanced externalizing problems, compared to noncarriers. One explanation is that the adverse influences examined in prior studies were not severe, chronic, or distressing enough to reveal individual differences in sensitivity reflected by DRD4-7R. This study examined whether the 7-repeat allele moderated the association between chronic stressors capturing multiple stressful aspects of individuals' lives and externalizing problems in adolescence. We expected that chronic stressor levels would be associated with externalizing levels only in 7-repeat carriers. Using Linear Mixed Models, we analyzed data from 1621 Dutch adolescents (52.2% boys), obtained in three measurement waves (mean age approximately 11, 13.5, and 16 years) from the TRacking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS) population-based birth cohort and the parallel clinic-referred cohort. Across informants, we found that higher levels of chronic stressors were related to higher externalizing levels in 7-repeat carriers but not in noncarriers, as hypothesized. Although previous studies on the 7-repeat allele as a moderator of environmental influences on adolescents' externalizing problems have not convincingly demonstrated individual differences in sensitivity to adverse environmental influences, our findings suggest that adolescent carriers of the Dopamine D4 Receptor 7-repeat allele are more sensitive to chronic, multi-context stressors than noncarriers

Specificity of psychopathology across levels of severity:a transdiagnostic network analysis

A prominent hypothesis within the field of psychiatry is that the manifestation of psychopathology changes from non-specific to specific as illness severity increases. Using a transdiagnostic network approach, we investigated this hypothesis in four independent groups with increasing psychopathology severity. We investigated whether symptom domains became more interrelated and formed more clusters as illness severity increased, using empirical tests for two network characteristics: global network strength and modularity-based community detection. Four severity groups, ranging from subthreshold psychopathology to having received a diagnosis and treatment, were derived with a standardized diagnostic interview conducted at age 18.5 (n = 1933; TRAILS cohort). Symptom domains were assessed using the Adult Self Report (ASR). Pairwise comparisons of the symptom networks across groups showed no difference in global network strength between severity groups. Similar number and type of communities detected in the four groups exceeded the more minor differences across groups. Common clusters consisted of domains associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and combined depression and anxiety domains. Based on the strength of symptom domain associations and symptom clustering using a network approach, we found no support for the hypothesis that the manifestation of psychopathology along the severity continuum changes from non-specific to specific

Emotion dysregulation as cross-disorder trait in child psychiatry predicting quality of life and required treatment duration

BACKGROUND: Emotion dysregulation (ED) is increasingly under investigation as a cross-disorder trait, and is by some considered as the core feature in mental disorders. The aims of this study were to scrutinize the overlapping and distinct characteristics of ED for internalizing, externalizing and neurodevelopmental disorders and to identify the most pertinent ED characteristics to guide clinicians in treatment choice.METHODS: Information on clinical diagnosis (Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder/Conduct Disorder, Anxiety and Mood Disorders), ED (measured by the CBCL-Emotion Dysregulation Index), Quality of Life (Qol, measured by the Kidscreen-27), and treatment duration (measured by Electronic Health Records) was retrieved from two large samples of toddlers (1.5-5  year old; N  = 1,544) and school aged children (6-18 year old; N  = 7,259). Frequency scores and logistic regression were used to study symptom profiles of ED, as measured with CBCL-EDI, across all disorders. Linear regression was used to determine the predictive value of ED (CBCL-EDI total score) regarding QoL and treatment duration in addition to-and in interaction with-clinical diagnosis. RESULTS: Across disorders, equal levels of total ED were found, which predicted lower QoL and a longer treatment duration in addition to clinical diagnosis. The majority of items (11/15 and 16/18) were of equal relevance to the disorders; items that were not, largely reflected disorder specific DSM definitions (i.e., externalizing symptoms in ODD/CD and internalizing symptoms in Anxiety and Mood disorders).CONCLUSION: ED is a clinically useful cross-disorder trait to predict severity of impairment as well as required treatment duration. In addition, ED is largely composed of shared features across disorders, with certain disorder specific colored elements.</p