Research Publications

Abstract

Background
In May 2021, COVID-19 vaccines became available for adolescents aged 12–15. However, safety concerns, misinformation, and politicization surrounding the vaccine left some parents hesitant to vaccinate their children. This study analyzes how media sources and religious affiliation were associated with parental COVID-19 vaccination intent.

Methods
We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 5552 parents in the May 2021 COVID-19 Rapid Research Response Survey of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, which collected data on parental intention to vaccinate their children against COVID-19 just before the FDA approved the first vaccine for children aged 12–15. Parental vaccination intent was analyzed by media sources, religious affiliation, and other sociodemographic factors. We also fit a log-binomial regression model to examine the impact of media sources and religious affiliation on parental vaccination intent, controlling for sociodemographic factors.

Results
We found that, compared to parents consuming balanced media sources, parents consuming right-leaning media sources were less likely to plan to vaccinate their children [PR = 0.53 (0.47, 0.6)], while parents consuming left-leaning media sources were not significantly different from parents consuming balanced media [PR = 1.06 (0.99, 1.12)]. We also found differences in vaccination intent by religious affiliation. Compared to Christian parents, Agnostic/Atheist parents were more likely to plan to vaccinate their children [PR = 1.41 (1.35, 1.47)], as were Jewish parents [PR = 1.32 (1.22, 1.43)], and parents with no religious affiliation [(PR = 1.18 (1.14, 1.23)].

Conclusions
Our study highlights the multifaceted factors influencing vaccine hesitancy among parents of adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. To create effective public health strategies for future outbreaks, it is crucial to better understand the complex interplay of religious affiliation and media bias with vaccine hesitancy.

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There are limited large-scale, prospective analyses examining problematic (addiction-like) screen use and mental and behavioral health outcomes in early adolescents. This study aimed to determine the associations between problematic screen use and mental and behavioral health outcomes-such as depressive symptoms, suicidal behaviors, sleep disturbance, and substance use initiation-1 year later in a national cohort of children aged 11-12 years in the U.S.

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Background
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder. Studies indicate that 20–55% of individuals with ADHD experience comorbid sleep disturbances, among which, sleep initiation difficulty (SID) is highly correlated with hyperactivity behaviors. However, the underlying neuroimaging mechanisms common to ADHD and sleep initiation difficulty remain poorly understood.

Methods
This study used multimodal neuroimaging data and ADHD, SID phenotype data from the ABCD Study (n=11,868; 52.1% male) to identify neuroimaging markers common to both conditions using linear regression. Then, these common neuroimaging features were analyzed across different ADHD trajectory groups, which were determined by latent class growth analysis (LCGA). Random-intercepts cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) were further used to examine their longitudinal relationships.

Results
Inter-network connectivity between the dorsal attention network and default mode network (DMN-DAN) from rest-fMRI, specific cortico-striatal-thalamic circuits involving the right orbitofrontal cortex volume from brain structural imaging and several major white matter tracts were significantly associated with both ADHD symptoms and SID. These neuroimaging markers collectively mediated the relationship between ADHD and SID. Furthermore, three distinct ADHD trajectories were identified and showed different association pattern with neuroimaging features and lagged effects between ADHD and SID.

Conclusion
Through multimodal neuroimaging analyses of ADHD and SID, we identified common neural substrates, which mediated the effect of ADHD symptoms on SID, and exhibited distinct patterns across different ADHD trajectory subgroups. The results suggest that common neural architecture and its dynamic expression may underlie the neurobiological link between ADHD and SID.

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Depression is shaped by both genetic and environmental factors, but genome-wide interaction studies (GWIS) often lack power to detect complex gene-environment (G × E) interactions. We applied a forest-based machine learning approach to 38,018 UK Biobank (UKB) participants, examining interactions between 285,677 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and three trauma types (childhood, adult, and catastrophic trauma). While GWIS detected no significant interactions, we identified 8,225 potentially important SNP-environment pairs across 1,732 genes, with childhood trauma contributing most prominently. Stratified heritability was higher among childhood trauma-exposed individuals (13.3%) versus those unexposed (6.0%). Many identified genes overlapped with known psychiatric risk loci and accounted for most of the SNP-based heritability. Thirteen top genes were replicated in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study. Our findings highlight the polygenic G × E nature of depression and the critical role of childhood trauma in modulating genetic risk, demonstrating the value of forest-based methods in detecting complex gene-environment interactions.

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Neurodevelopmental models regard impulsivity as a central risk factor for adolescent substance use. However, the practical utility of impulsivity in predicting substance use is complicated by variability among measures that encompass multiple methods and theoretical domains. Prior research has been constrained by cross-sectional designs, small sample sizes, and/or the use of a narrow subset of impulsivity measures.

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This study relied on previously established factor scores of environmental, education, and socioeconomic-related variables in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (ABCD) and their associations with cognitive functioning in youth.

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Social health, having an adequate quantity and quality of social relationships, is essential for well-being but understudied during adolescence compared to adulthood. We sought to identify patterns and predictors of social health by characterizing peer relationships among 10,050 adolescents (10-13 years old, 4,815 girls, 53.68% non-Hispanic White) in Year 2 of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study. To characterize social health profiles, we applied latent profile analysis on peer variables collected in Year 2: number of friends (close, general), aggression, victimization, relationships with prosocial and rule-breaking peers, and support. We then assessed whether loneliness (baseline, Year 2), family conflict (baseline, Year 2), and participant sex predicted profile membership. Fit indices supported a three-class solution: a “selective” class (∼60% of the sample) characterized by values below sample means but within population norms across variables (e.g., number of friends), a “robust” class (∼30%) characterized by high numbers of friends, and a “concerning” class (∼10%) characterized by high levels of peer aggression and victimization. Lonely adolescents were more likely to be in the concerning group and less likely to be in the robust group. Youth with more family conflict and boys were more likely to be in the concerning group; girls were more likely to be in the selective group. These findings reveal profiles of peer relationships in a large representative sample, providing a template for characterizing social health as adolescents begin to build intimate peer relationships. The results also highlight individual differences in social health profiles, which can inform targets to improve adolescent social health. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

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Graph deep learning models, a class of AI-driven approaches employing a message aggregation mechanism, have gained popularity for analyzing the functional brain connectome in neuroimaging. However, their actual effectiveness remains unclear. In this study, we re-examine graph deep learning versus classical machine learning models based on four large-scale neuroimaging studies. Surprisingly, we find that the message aggregation mechanism, a hallmark of graph deep learning models, does not help with predictive performance as typically assumed, but rather consistently degrades it. To address this issue, we propose a hybrid model combining a linear model with a graph attention network through dual pathways, achieving robust predictions and enhanced interpretability by revealing both localized and global neural connectivity patterns. Our findings urge caution in adopting complex deep learning models for functional brain connectome analysis, emphasizing the need for rigorous experimental designs to establish tangible performance gains and perhaps more importantly, to pursue improvements in model interpretability.

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Household cannabis use is a risk factor for adolescents’ mental health problems. However, little is known about the association of the cessation and psychological impairments in affected adolescents. This study examined the associations of household cannabis cessation and adolescents’ mental health outcomes and potential pathways.

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The environment, especially social features, plays a key role in shaping the development of the brain, notably during adolescence. To better understand variation in brain-environment coupling and its associated outcomes, we identified ”social envirotypes,” or different patterns of social environment experience, in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study by hierarchically clustering subjects. Two focal clusters, which accounted for 89.3% of all participants, differed significantly on eight out of nine youth-report social environment quality measures, representing almost perfect complements. We then applied tools from network neuroscience to show different social envirotypes are associated with different patterns of whole brain functional connectivity. Differences were distributed across the brain but were especially prominent in Default and Somatomotor Hand systems for these focal clusters. Finally, we examined how social envirotypes change over development and how these patterns of change are associated with a suite of outcomes. The resulting dynamic social envirotypes differed along dimensions of stability and quality, but outcomes diverged based on stability. Altogether, our findings represent significant contributions to both social developmental neuroscience and network neuroscience, emphasizing the variability and dynamicity of brain-environment coupling and its consequences.

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Puberty is a critical developmental process that is associated with changes in pubertal (or steroid) hormone levels, which are believed to influence adolescent behaviour via their effects on the developing brain. So far, there are limited and inconsistent findings regarding the relationship between steroid hormones and brain structure and function in adolescent females, with many existing studies employing small sample sizes. Thus, in this study, we explored the association between oestradiol (E2), testosterone (Tes), and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and brain structure (gray matter volume, sulcal depth, cortical thickness, and white matter microstructure) and function (resting-state connectivity, emotional n-back task-related function) in 3024 adolescent females (age 8.92-13.33 years, mean age (SD) = 10.37 (0.94) years) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development^SM (ABCD) Study. We used elastic-net regression with cross-validation to investigate associations between hormones and brain phenotypes derived from multiple imaging modalities. We found that structural brain features, including cortical thickness, sulcal depth, and white matter microstructure, and resting state connectivity between cortical networks and subcortical regions, were important features associated with hormones. E2 was most strongly associated with prefrontal and premotor regions involved in working memory and emotion processing, while Tes and DHEA were most strongly associated with parietal and occipital regions involved in visuospatial functioning. All three hormones were also associated with prefrontal, temporoparietal junction, and insula cortices. Thus, using an advanced methodological approach, this study suggests both unique and overlapping neural correlates of pubertal hormones in adolescent females and sheds light on the mechanisms by which puberty influences adolescent development and behaviour.

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Internalizing symptoms are common in childhood and linked to meaningful differences in brain structure, yet their organization and neurobiological correlates during this developmental period remain poorly understood. An increasing number of studies conceptualize internalizing psychopathology as dimensional, transdiagnostic, and hierarchical, yet the factor structure of these symptoms in youth remains to be clearly defined. Additionally, the neurostructural underpinnings of internalizing factors warrants further investigation in younger samples. Using a large sample (N = 11,868) of 9- to 10-year-old children from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD Study), we examined the factor structure of internalizing symptoms and identified associated neurostructural correlates, focusing on regional gray matter volume, cortical thickness, and cortical surface area. Higher-order modeling was used, in which the correlations among first-order factors for distress, cognitive, fear, and somatic symptoms were accounted for by a higher-order general internalizing factor. After controlling for age, sex, income, parental education, and site/MRI scanner, we found that general internalizing, distress, and cognitive symptoms were associated with smaller gray matter volume and cortical surface area across most regions. Fear symptoms showed a more localized pattern of smaller surface area in the parietal, temporal, and insular cortices. Cortical thickness and somatic symptoms showed less consistent associations. These findings contribute to the growing literature on dimensional models of internalizing psychopathology in youth by linking higher- and lower-order internalizing symptom factors to distinct patterns of neurostructural variation. Our results support the utility of hierarchical dimensional approaches for elucidating the neural substrates of internalizing symptoms during middle childhood.

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Violence affects over one billion children globally each year. Early adolescence is a sensitive period for neurobehavioral development, making it critical to understand how violence impacts the brain. While emotional, physical, and social outcomes related to violence have been extensively studied, the neurobiological mechanisms linking violence to developmental outcomes remain underexplored. This study investigated associations between violence and neural communication in 9-10 year olds from the longitudinal Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development-Social Development Study (n = 2016). Regression analyses tested whether lifetime violence exposure (ages 9-10), recent exposure (ages 11-13), and cumulative exposures over three years were associated with connectivity between critical networks and subcortical regions. Findings revealed distinct types of violence were associated with alterations in brain connectivity across critical networks involved in emotional regulation, cognitive control, and threat detection. Internet victimization was consistently associated with alterations in neural communication, suggesting digital environments may uniquely influence neural pathways linked to self-reflection and emotional processing. Cumulative violence exposure was associated with greater increases in progression of neural communication between the default mode and salience networks and the salience network and hippocampus. These findings emphasize the need for tailored interventions addressing specific violence exposures, mitigating potential impacts on youth brain development and emotional health.

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This study aims to investigate the roles of decision-making processes and genetics in the co-occurrence of alcohol use and suicidal thoughts/behaviors (STB) in adolescence. We used data from the ABCD study (abcdstudy.org) and included behavioral (computerized tasks, self-report questionnaires) and genetic (polygenic scores [PGS]) measures related to cognitive (executive functions) and affective (delay-discounting, risk-taking, impulsivity) processes involved in decision-making. First, we evaluated the latent structure of decision-making in the full sample (N = 11,868) using a split-half exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Second, we evaluated the association between alcohol experimentation ( > 1 sip) and STB in three genetically-defined ancestry groups: European (EUR, N = 6080), African (AFR, N = 2085), and the Americas (AMR, N = 2712). We used logistic regressions to examine which PGS and behavioral factors were related to STB and tested the mediational effect of behavioral processes. STB prevalence was between 0.85-4.17%. Decision-making was best represented by three latent factors: cognitive, emotional-impulsivity, and premeditation-perseverance. Regression analyses showed that alcohol experimentation was related to STB in EUR only (OR = 1.44, 95%CI = 1.10;1.89). Lower tendencies on the emotional-impulsivity factor were related to lower STB in all groups (ORs 0.69-0.77), and better premeditation-perseverance were associated with lower STB in EUR (OR = 0.57) and AFR (OR = 0.72). In EUR, the association between alcohol experimentation and STB was mediated by the emotional-impulsivity (15.33%) and premeditation-perseverance (22.60%) latent factors. The associations between PGS for externalizing behaviors and STB also acted through the emotional impulsivity and perseverance-premeditation factors (mediations 6.98-10.30%). These findings suggest that decision-making-related processes may contribute to the alcohol use-STB co-occurrence.

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Emerging evidence suggests that adolescents with depression may experience cognitive dysfunction. However, studies are primarily cross-sectional and few in number. This study examines the temporal association of depression and cognitive function among participants of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study.

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This review synthesizes ten years of research utilizing data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, emphasizing how the study’s comprehensive, longitudinal design supports a multivariate understanding of adolescent mental health. We focus on studies that have examined the collective or interacting relations of multiple factors to mental health in adolescents, as this unique dataset allows for examining more complex configurations of risk factors. We highlight key findings from ABCD data that have deepened our understanding of the risk factors shaping mental health outcomes in adolescence. Findings underscore the complex interplay of biological, psychological, and/or contextual factors on adolescent mental health. We conclude with a forward-looking discussion of emerging research priorities and opportunities to further leverage the ABCD dataset to inform developmental theory, prevention, and intervention efforts.

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Problematic gaming has been linked to increased levels of psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) in youth, but the role of environmental factors remains unclear. We aimed to examine the association of problematic gaming with PLEs and, using affordance theory, to evaluate whether environmental factors could help enhance the identification of this risk.

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This study examined cross-sectional and prospective differences in mental health and family functioning among caregivers aware of their child’s self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITBs), caregivers unaware of their child’s SITBs, and caregivers of children without SITBs. Data were drawn from an epidemiological U.S. sample of children (ages 9-10) and their caregivers who participated in three yearly assessments as part of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study ( = 11,303, 47.6% female). Caregivers reported on their own mental health problems and SITBs, their child’s SITBs, and family conflict. Children reported on their own SITBs, family conflict, parental monitoring, and parental acceptance. Compared to caregivers of children without SITBs (81%), both aware (9.9%) and unaware (9.1%) caregivers reported more externalizing problems at baseline. Their children reported more family conflict and lower parental monitoring and acceptance across assessments. Relative to unaware caregivers and caregivers of children without SITBs, aware caregivers reported elevated internalizing problems at baseline and greater odds of engaging in SITBs at baseline and follow-up. Compared to children of unaware caregivers, children of aware caregivers reported lower family conflict and higher parental monitoring and acceptance at baseline. In contrast, aware caregivers reported higher family conflict at baseline and 1 year later compared to unaware caregivers. Overall, caregivers of children with SITBs, whether aware or unaware, experienced more mental health problems and long-term effects on family functioning. Aware caregivers also reported higher SITB risk. Family-based interventions with a focus on caregivers’ mental health may help reduce children’s SITBs and family suffering. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

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Youth suicide is increasingly prevalent, is a leading cause of death, and its public health burden is acute. Juvenile Legal System (JLS) involvement is an established correlate of suicidality; however, it is unclear how JLS involvement is nomologically associated with suicidality. Adolescents are situated within ecological contexts (i.e., family, schools, neighborhoods) that likely interact to modify the association of JLS involvement and suicidality. To improve predictive models, rigorous prosecution of this relationship must disentangle related risk/protective factors (i.e., sex/gender, race-ethnicity, discrimination, trauma, familism). Based on 2426 adolescents enrolled in a substudy of the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Study (ABCD), we utilized propensity score matching to test the association of police contact at 10-13 years-old with suicidal outcomes (i.e., self-harm, suicidal ideation, suicide attempt) two years later, covarying for age, education, race-ethnicity, sex/gender, discrimination, adverse childhood events (ACEs), and familism. After adjusting for numerous demographic, experiential, and family-level correlates, police contact did not significantly predict suicidal outcomes two years later. Baseline ACEs positively predicted self-harm and suicidal ideation two years later. Lower familism predicted self-harm, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts two years later. With inclusion of important risk and protective factors, JLS involvement did not uniquely predict suicidality. Factors closely related to JLS involvement (i.e., ACEs, familism) incremented risk. To address the increasing prevalence of suicidality and the disproportionate impact of suicide on JLS-impacted youth, it is critical to investigate individual and systemic factors, and how they interact, to increase risk for suicidality.

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Despite the rapid growth in gaming consumption and associated harms in adolescents, data-driven research to identify brain networks underlying problematic gaming remains limited. This study aimed to identify neural networks predictive of problematic-gaming severity in youth using connectome-based predictive modelling (CPM), a machine-learning approach that employs whole-brain functional connectivity data.

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BACKGROUND
Children spend significant amounts of time using digital media (DM), and longer exposure may increase attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-related symptoms, although findings are mixed. We investigated longitudinal association between different types of DM use and ADHD-related symptoms in school-aged children, accounting for genetic predisposition and socioeconomic status.

METHODS
This study included children from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, and these children were followed annually for 4 years. Estimated time spent on social media, video games, and television/videos was self-reported using Youth Screen Time Survey. ADHD-related symptoms were assessed at each visit with the parent-reported Child Behavior Checklist. Genetic predisposition was estimated using a polygenic risk score for ADHD (PGS-ADHD).

RESULTS
The study included 8324 children (53% boys; mean age: 9.9 years). On average, children spent 2.3 hours/d watching television/videos, 1.4 hours/d on social media, and 1.5 hours/d playing video games. Average social media use was associated with increased inattention symptoms over time (β [SE], 0.03 [0.01]; P < .001), with a cumulative 4-year effect of β = 0.15 (SE, 0.03; P < .001). No associations were found between playing video games or watching television/videos and ADHD-related symptoms. The association between social media use and inattention symptoms was not moderated by sex, ADHD diagnosis, PGS-ADHD, or ADHD medication status. Inattention symptoms were not associated with increased social media use over time.

CONCLUSION
Social media use was associated with an increase in inattention symptoms in children over time. Although the observed effect size was small, it could have significant consequences if behavior changes occur at the population level.

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Experimentation with alcohol and other substances during the early adolescent period is associated with a myriad of potentially deleterious health outcomes. The present analysis utilized data from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Study (ABCD Study®) to investigate the relationships between risk perception, susceptibility to peer influence, and substance use in early adolescence.

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This study aimed to explore potential mediation pathways between racial/ethnic discrimination experience and cannabis use intention through perceived cannabis accessibility and then perceived harm. Preteens ( = 2,690, ages 9-13) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (Release 4.0) were included. Structural equation modeling was conducted. Experiencing racial/ethnic discrimination was associated with higher cannabis use intention ( = 0.068,  < 0.05). Preteens who experienced racial/ethnic discrimination were more likely to perceive cannabis as more accessible ( = 0.134,  < 0.05), resulting in lower perceived harm (=-0.123,  < 0.001), which subsequently increased cannabis use intention (=-0.085,  < 0.001). These results emphasize the need for interventions to address discrimination-related trauma in preteens.

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Early life adversities (ELAs) including experiences such as abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction are strongly linked to psychopathology; yet, the developmental pathways connecting ELA to externalizing and internalizing psychopathology remain unclear. While most research has focused on threat and negative affect, positive emotions may represent a critical but understudied mechanism linking ELA to mental health outcomes.

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Early life adversity (ELA) has been linked to shifts in developmental pace. This study examined whether brain maturity during early adolescence was influenced by ELA, and whether it explained the relationship between ELA and mental health problems. A sample (n = 7658, 46 % female) from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study was utilized, with data collected at three time points spanning 9-14 years of age. Exposure to threat, psychosocial deprivation, household instability, and socioeconomic stress were measured at baseline. A predictive model of normative brain development (brain age) trained on a large independent lifespan sample was applied to structural neuroimaging data from the second timepoint. Brain-age-gap (BAG) – the difference between model predicted brain age and chronological age – was tested as a mediator of adversity exposure and internalizing/externalizing problems at the third timepoint. A more positive BAG was associated with more externalizing problems, but hypothesized associations between adversity and BAG were not significant. Sex moderation of these pathways suggests adversity may differentially affect the pace of brain development for males and females, which uniquely explains vulnerability to externalizing problems. The findings highlight the importance of examining sex-specific effects of adversity on adolescent development and mental health.

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Objective
The Adolescent Brain Cognitive DevelopmentSM (ABCD) Study, which follows over 11,000 adolescents, provides a unique opportunity to examine the causes and consequences of school detentions and suspensions. Although school records are considered the gold standard for assessing disciplinary events, they are not available in the ABCD Study®. Instead, youth and caregivers provide single-item reports of past-year discipline that may differ in scope and severity. The current study explored whether prospective associations with future school discipline varied by reporter, focusing on prior-year adolescent mental health concerns and discipline history as predictors.

Method
Data from the ABCD Study (baseline n = 9,772; 8-11 years old; 52% male) were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models with multiple imputation. Multi-informant mental health concerns (externalizing, inattention/impulsivity, and internalizing) from the first follow-up wave predicted discipline over the next two years across four discipline reporting groups: Youth-Reported (20%), Caregiver-Reported (13%), Agreement (10%), and Either Reporter (24%).

Results
Youth-reported and either-reporter discipline measures showed higher prevalence rates but weaker bivariate associations with prior mental health and disciplinary history relative to caregiver-reported and agreement discipline measures; however, most differences diminished after covariate adjustment. Across reporters, prior discipline remained the strongest predictor of future discipline.

Conclusion
Reporter choice in school discipline measurement influenced observed associations. Patterns suggested that youth-reported discipline may capture a broad range of infractions, whereas caregiver-reported discipline may reflect more severe events. However, recognizing the limited precision of single-item discipline indicators is essential for interpreting results and guiding future ABCD investigations.

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Because suicide-related outcome risk is higher among individuals experiencing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and individuals of minoritized race and ethnicity experience greater ACEs, differences by race and ethnicity in ACE exposure and/or response may help explain racial and ethnic disparities in suicide-related outcomes. We aimed to describe ACE prevalence by race and ethnicity, estimate associations between ACEs and suicidality, and explore moderation by race and ethnicity. Supported by the stress sensitization hypothesis, we hypothesized that associations between ACEs and suicidality would be stronger among non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic children than non-Hispanic White children. We utilized an Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study subsample ( = 5,469; = 119.3 months [ = 7.5 months]; Hispanic: 20.8%; non-Hispanic Black: 14.8%; non-Hispanic White: 64.4%). We estimated associations between ACEs (cumulative ACE score and three subdomains: family-centered adversity, interpersonal adversity, and life events) and suicidality (any child-reported suicidal thoughts or behaviors) using generalized linear mixed models and included an interaction term between ACEs and race and ethnicity to examine potential moderation. ACE prevalence differed by race and ethnicity and was highest among non-Hispanic Black children, although household mental illness prevalence was highest among non-Hispanic White children. Cumulative ACE score ( = 1.17, 95% CI [1.12, 1.23]), family-centered adversity ( = 1.89, 95% CI [1.54, 2.32]), and interpersonal adversity ( = 1.62, 95% CI [1.35, 1.94]) were positively associated with suicidality; the associations were not moderated by race and ethnicity. Differential ACE exposure by race and ethnicity may help explain suicide-related disparities. ACE prevention and interventions, particularly among children of minoritized race and ethnicity, are vital. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

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Background
Psychiatric disorders affect approximately 20% of adolescents in the U.S. and are both heritable and highly polygenic. Polygenic scores (PGSs) aggregate genetic risk across the genome, and in doing so potentially capture multiple, distinct behavioral pathways. Among these, cognitive control and reward sensitivity are key constructs that have been found to independently and jointly relate to adolescent psychopathology.

Methods
In this study, we used latent variables representing cognitive control and reward sensitivity (measured at baseline) as mediators between PGSs for internalizing, neurodevelopmental, and addiction-related psychopathology and observed psychopathology measured two years later in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (N=11,875; ages 9–12; 48% female, 52% male assigned at birth).

Results
Our findings show that most of the associations between PGSs and later psychopathology were accounted for by indirect effects through cognitive control and reward sensitivity, with all of the association between the addiction PGS and Externalizing accounted for by the indirect effects, but less of the internalizing PGS to Internalizing pathway was accounted for by control and reward sensitivity. Multiple cognitive control factors significantly mediated the effects of PGSs on both internalizing and externalizing outcomes (indirect effects=0.004–0.074). Reward sensitivity, specifically Sensation Seeking, uniquely mediated the association between the addiction PGS and later psychopathology, suggesting that addiction-related genetic risk may operate through pathways related to heightened reward responsiveness.

Conclusions
Overall, these results indicate that PGSs for internalizing, neurodevelopmental, and addiction-related traits index multiple distinct behavioral mechanisms with specific relevance to adolescent psychopathology risk.

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Exposure to early life adversity has long-reaching effects on the psychopathology of adolescents. However, some individuals exposed to early life stressors, such as threat and deprivation, do not later present with symptoms. Previous research suggests that neural mechanisms may play a role in differentiating pathways from early life threat or deprivation to internalizing symptoms.

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Positive expectancies of cannabis use effects, which are the beliefs about the anticipated positive effects of cannabis, are robust cognitive precursors of adolescent cannabis initiation and escalation. However, little is known about how sociodemographic, familial, and psychopathological factors predict positive expectancies of cannabis use effects or how these expectancies evolve across early adolescence.

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The gateway hypothesis posits that the use of some “gateway drugs” may precipitate initiation of use of other drugs. A commonly examined pathway in this regard is the use of tobacco/nicotine leading to the use of marijuana. There is a dearth of research that has examined nicotine vaping specifically as a predictor of marijuana and that has integrated social learning processes of rule-breaking peer association into this pathway. The present study sought to address these gaps in the literature by examining nicotine vaping as a mediator of the relationship between rule-breaking peer association and marijuana use. The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development data were analyzed. Generalized structural equation modeling was used to assess relationships of interest. Greater rule-breaking peer association predicted increased marijuana use risk at follow-up. Nicotine vaping was a significant mediator here, accounting for about 8% of this relationship. Implications are discussed.

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Despite the rise of adolescent video gaming, evidence-based parenting guidelines and research on its specific behavioral impacts remain limited. This study evaluated whether media parenting practices are prospectively associated with video game use in adolescents 1 and 2 years later.

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Objective
Greater peer victimization predicts more internalizing symptoms, particularly among adolescent girls. However, not all adolescents are equally sensitive to peer interactions; rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) reactivity to social cues may mark these differences in sensitivity. rACC activation to social stimuli may mark individuals for whom peer victimization leads to internalizing symptoms; this effect may vary by sex and level of peer victimization. Understanding unique pathways to internalizing symptoms may provide increasing insight into heterogeneity of emerging internalizing symptoms as well as precision targets for intervention.

Method
Participants (n=1,557; ages 11-12) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study completed functional neuroimaging and questionnaires. Participants were divided into quartiles of rACC social activation (faces>places) during the Emotional N-back task.

Results
Higher quartiles of left, but not right, rACC social activation were associated with higher levels of internalizing symptoms (b=6.777e-02). In female participants, high rACC social activation related to decreased internalizing symptoms as victimization increased (b=-0.08) compared to female participants with average and low rACC social activation and all male participants.

Conclusion
Lateralized rACC social activation may mark sensitivity to internalizing symptoms and peer victimization. At normative-to-low levels of peer victimization, higher rACC social activation marked a particularly vulnerable group to peer victimization. However, in female participants higher rACC social activation may be protective against high peer victimization where it decreased the association between peer victimization and internalizing symptoms. The rACC may be a treatment target for to reduce internalizing symptoms, but social context is an important factor contributing to heterogeneity.

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Adverse prenatal exposures (APEs) often co-occur and independently associate with risk for childhood psychopathology. Whether exposure to multiple APEs is associated with persistent clinical effects through adolescence or underlying changes in brain maturation remains uncertain.

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To investigate sex-dependent effects of polygenic risk (PRS-SCZ) and exposome score (ES-SCZ) for schizophrenia, both independently and jointly, on distressing psychotic experiences (PEs) in early adolescents.

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Prenatal alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis exposure are known risks for childhood psychopathology symptoms, but gaps persist in identifying substance-specific developmental vulnerability windows. Exposure timing relative to maternal pregnancy awareness may alter outcomes, yet this temporal specificity remains unclarified, limiting targeted risk assessment and prevention.

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The genetic risk of persistent distressing psychotic-like experiences (PLE) in the multi-ancestral population is under-investigated. The gene-neighborhood environment interaction in persistent distressing PLE is also unknown. This study included 6,449 participants from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Study. Genetic risk was measured by a multi-ancestral schizophrenia polygenic risk score (SCZ-PRS). Multi-dimensional neighborhood-level exposures were used to form the neighborhood exposome (NE). SCZ-PRS was not statistically significantly associated with odds of persistent distressing PLE (OR = 1.04, 95% CI: 0.97, 1.13, = 0.280), whereas NE score was (OR = 1.15, 95% CI: 1.05, 1.26, = 0.003). A significant negative multiplicative interaction between SCZ-PRS and NE was found (Estimate = -0.08, 95% CI: -0.15, -0.00, P = 0.039). The additive interaction followed the same direction but was statistically insignificant (Estimate = -0.06, 95% CI: -0.15, 0.03, P = 0.189). Persistent distressing PLE in children may be driven by detrimental neighborhood exposures in multi-ancestral populations, particularly among those with low genetic risk. The findings provide important evidence on persistent distressing PLE etiology attributed to genetic and environmental risks and identify potential susceptible populations for targeted interventions.

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Genetic factors are known to play a role in shaping reading abilities and their underlying cognitive processes. However, understanding how genetic and environmental factors interact to influence reading outcomes remains largely unknown. By evaluating the interplay between genetic and environmental influences on reading performance, this study aims to provide insights into the complex mechanisms underlying reading abilities. To this aim, we leveraged the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development dataset, considering socioeconomic indicators including household income and parental education, along with linguistic characteristics such as bilingualism and the child’s first language (L1). We operationalized genetic influences as polygenic scores (PGS), which aggregate genetic risk across multiple loci associated with reading-relevant traits (word reading, dyslexia, cognitive performance, and educational attainment). First, we establish the individual associations between selected environmental and genetic predictors for reading, observing that all except L1 are significant predictors of reading, with a similar range of variance explained by the two types of predictors. Next, we confirm an additive effect, as the PGS remain significant after adjustment for the environmental effects, although the effects of PGS and PGS are attenuated, confirming a partial gene-environment correlation. This is further supported by analyzing direct and genetic effects in a subset of siblings. Next, potential interactions between the PGS and these environmental variables are considered. Finally, we evaluate the combined contribution of the four PGS through a multiPGS analysis, which improves the predictive power of the individual PGS analyses, explaining up to 10% of variance in reading performance (adjusted R). Sensitivity analyses with other cognitive outcomes (vocabulary and fluid intelligence) reveal that the observed pattern is specific to reading. Our study highlights the important and interrelated roles of both environmental and genetic factors in shaping reading abilities.

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The association between breastfeeding and adolescent obesity remains unclear because most previous studies included youth with obesity. We explored these associations from ages 9 to 12 amongst initially healthy weight youth.

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Prenatal substance exposure is an increasing problem that has been linked to multiple neurodevelopmental impairments and alterations to brain functional connectivity.

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The left-hemisphere language cortex is known to be structurally aberrant in developmental dyslexia (also referred to as reading disability, RD). However, studies have not addressed the neuroanatomical bases of dyslexia in bilinguals, even though bilingualism is common, and the bilingual experience is thought to alter the language cortex. This raises the question of whether current brain-based models of dyslexia are applicable to bilinguals. We employed a factorial analysis with participants from the ABCD Study (total N = 268, aged 9-10 years), comparing Bilinguals with RD, Bilingual Controls, Monolinguals with RD, and Monolingual Controls on gray matter volume (GMV) and cortical thickness (CT). RD was determined for reading in English. We included only cultural early bilinguals of Spanish and English; these are prevalent in the United States and represent a homogeneous group of bilinguals who learned their languages early in their home environment. Both main effects analyses (RD vs. Control; Bilingual vs. Monolingual) yielded results for GMV and, to a lesser extent for CT, and the effects for bilingualism were more pronounced than those for dyslexia. Importantly, the interaction analysis revealed no exponential effect, indicating that the neuroanatomical signature of dyslexia is not compounded by experience-dependent plasticity associated with early bilingualism. Our results suggest that brain-based models of dyslexia derived from monolinguals can be generalized to early bilinguals. They also reveal no differences in left-hemisphere language cortex in dyslexia (main effects analysis of RD vs. Controls), suggesting that prior results of GMV and CT differences in these regions from smaller studies may not have been robust. SUMMARY: Neuroanatomical aberrations in dyslexia have been reported in left-hemisphere language cortex, but this work is based primarily on monolingual participants. We tested for the first time if aberrations of gray matter volume and cortical thickness in reading disability (RD) are magnified by a dual language-experience. An ANOVA of Bilinguals with and without RD and Monolinguals with and without RD resulted in no exponential effect of bilingual experience. The main effect for RD revealed no differences in left language cortex and far fewer regions than those revealed by the main effect of bilingualism.

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Low socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with alterations in brain development and youth psychopathology risk. However, the mechanisms linking SES to neurodevelopment remain unclear. We tested whether pubertal timing and tempo mediate the association between SES and cortical thinning in adolescence, and whether these neurobiological processes predict socioeconomic disparities in internalizing symptoms.

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Previous cross-sectional studies demonstrated that reduced sleep is associated with widespread changes in the brain’s intrinsic functional architecture. The present study extends this work by clarifying links between sleep and the developing brain during adolescence both longitudinally (across two years) and directionally (does reduced sleep cause connectivity changes or are connectivity changes the cause of reduced sleep?). Our novel approach combines the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, a longitudinal observational study of 11,878 youth, and a second sample of 76 adult participants scanned after a typical night of sleep and after a sleep deprivation causal manipulation. First, in the ABCD dataset, we identified a robust and generalizable neurosignature of reduced sleep. Second, in an independent sample of ABCD participants, we demonstrate that greater reductions in sleep duration across two years are significantly related to greater expression of this neurosignature. Third, in the sleep deprivation dataset, we show that expression of the ABCD reduced sleep neurosignature is significantly increased within individuals following sleep deprivation, and that neurosignatures of reduced sleep from the two samples exhibit significant spatial correspondence. These results clarify links between sleep and the developing brain and provide novel evidence that changes in sleep produce characteristic brain functional connectivity changes across adolescence.

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This study examined the degree to which genetic and environmental factors contribute to externalizing and internalizing problems in early adolescence, and the role of ethnic discrimination in moderating genetic and environmental influences. The sample included 740 racially/ethnically minoritized adolescent twins (50.3% female, mean age = 11.04 years) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. Adolescents reported on their ethnic discrimination experiences, and parents reported on adolescents’ externalizing and internalizing problems. Using univariate biometric twin modeling, we found that both genetic and environmental factors contributed to individual differences in externalizing and internalizing problems. Ethnic discrimination experiences moderated genetic influences on externalizing and internalizing problems, such that genetic influences were higher among youth who experienced higher levels of ethnic discrimination. Ethnic discrimination experiences exacerbate genetic influences on externalizing and internalizing problems among racial/ethnic minoritized adolescents. These findings advance our understanding of the interplay between genetic and cultural factors underlying externalizing and internalizing psychopathology among racially/ethnically minoritized adolescents.

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To examine how substance use (SU) initiation during early adolescence is influenced by youths’ comorbid psychological and somatic symptom trajectory (C-PSST), risk perceptions, and their proximal environment.

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Mental health research is shifting toward dimensional, transdiagnostic frameworks, yet the role of executive functions (EFs) across psychopathological domains remains unclear. In this study, we examined transdiagnostic associations and potential directional pathways linking EFs with psychopathology in a large sample of preadolescents (N = 9,119) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. We employed a Gaussian graphical model (GGM) to estimate partial correlations and a directed acyclic graph (DAG) to infer potential directional influences between EFs and psychopathology. Modest associations were observed among the EFs and psychopathology. Working memory emerged as a central node, showing positive associations with attention problems, social problems, and rule-breaking behavior, and negative associations with anxious/depressed and somatic complaints. These results were mirrored in the DAG, which identified working memory and attention problems as key converging hubs. Sex-stratified analyses revealed notable differences in network structure. Our findings reveal a core transdiagnostic role for working memory in preadolescent psychopathology.

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Prescription stimulants (e.g., methylphenidate) are thought to improve attention, but evidence from prior fMRI studies is conflicted. We utilized resting-state fMRI data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (n = 11,875; 8-11 years old) and validated the functional connectivity findings in a precision imaging drug trial with highly sampled (n = 5, 165-210 min each) healthy adults (methylphenidate 40 mg). Stimulant-related connectivity differences in sensorimotor regions matched fMRI patterns of daytime arousal, sleeping longer at night, and norepinephrine transporter expression. Taking stimulants reversed the effects of sleep deprivation on connectivity and school grades. Connectivity was also changed in salience and parietal memory networks, which are important for dopamine-mediated, reward-motivated learning, but not the brain’s attention systems (e.g., dorsal attention network). The combined noradrenergic and dopaminergic effects of stimulants may drive brain organization towards a more wakeful and rewarded configuration, improving task effort and persistence without effects on attention networks.

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Shorter sleep duration and longer screen time are established risk factors for adolescent obesity. However, the extent to which these behaviors are prospectively associated with the transition back from overweight/obesity to a healthy status remains unclear. We examined whether sleep duration and screen time among adolescents with overweight/obesity are associated with the likelihood of transitioning to a normal body mass index (BMI).

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Integrating high-dimensional, heterogeneous data from multi-site cohort studies with complex hierarchical structures poses significant variable selection and prediction challenges. We extend the Bayesian Integrative Analysis and Prediction (BIP) framework to enable simultaneous variable selection and outcome modeling in data of a multi-view nested hierarchical structure. We apply the proposed Bayesian Integrative Mixed Modeling (BIPmixed) framework to the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, leveraging multi-view data, including structural and functional MRI and early life adversity (ELA) metrics, to identify relevant variables and predict the behavioral outcome. BIPmixed incorporates 2-level nested random effects to enhance interpretability and make predictions in hierarchical data settings. Simulation studies illustrate BIPmixed’s robustness in distinct random effect settings, highlighting its use for complex study designs. Our findings suggest that BIPmixed effectively integrates multi-view data while accounting for nested sampling, making it a valuable tool for analyzing large-scale studies with hierarchical data.

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Chronotype is shaped by the complex interplay of endogenous and exogenous factors. This time-enduring trait ties into societal behaviors and is linked to psychiatric and metabolic conditions. Despite its multifaceted nature, prior research has treated chronotype as a monolithic trait across the population, risking overlooking substantial heterogeneity in neural and behavioral fingerprints. To uncover hidden subgroups, we develop a supervised pattern-learning framework integrating three complementary brain-imaging modalities with deep behavioral and health profiling from 27,030 UK Biobank participants. We identify five distinct, biologically valid chronotype subtypes. Each demonstrates unique patterns across brain, behavioral and health profiles. External validation in 10,550 US children from the ABCD Study cohort reveals reversed age distributions and replicates sex-associated brain-behavioral patterns, suggesting that potential divergences between chronotype traits observed throughout adulthood may begin to emerge early in life. These findings highlight underappreciated sources of population variation that echo the rhythm of people’s inner clock.

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Past research suggests that polygenic scores for major depressive disorder (MDD-PGS), family conflict, and parental acceptance may all predict depressive outcomes among adolescents. Few studies have examined the interplay of these factors through gene-environment interaction (GxE) and gene-environment correlation (rGE) in racially/ethnically diverse samples of adolescents. Methods: Utilizing latent curve analysis and growth mixture modeling in a diverse sample of 10,771 adolescents from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, the present study examined how MDD-PGS, family conflict, and parental acceptance predicted depressive trajectory class membership through GxE and rGE in independent models for Black, Latinx, and White adolescents. Results: Among all youth, MDD-PGS and family conflict were associated with greater intercept-levels of depressive symptoms. Among Latinx and White youth, parental acceptance was associated with lower intercept levels of depressive symptoms. MDD-PGS (among all youth), lower parental acceptance (among Latinx and White youth), and greater family conflict (among White youth) increased odds of higher-risk trajectories. Evidence of rGE through family conflict was found among White youth. No evidence of GxE was found. Conclusion: Our findings highlight utility of MDD-PGS and the need to expand conceptualizations of environment to identify salient supportive and stressful experiences across racially/ethnically diverse youth.

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This study investigates how objective neighborhood violence and perceived neighborhood safety (PNS) relate to adolescent mental health, cognitive performance, and brain structure. We examined whether PNS moderated the effects of neighborhood violence, explored neural correlates of PNS, tested longitudinal relationships, and assessed sociodemographic and psychological predictors of PNS.

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Suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) represent a tremendous public health problem among children and adolescents. Although internalizing (INT) and externalizing (EXT) phenotypes have been linked to STBs, less is known about the unique and shared genetic contributions of INT and EXT to STBs.

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Early life adversity (ELA) is common and cross-sectionally associated with brain gray matter structure, including cortical thickness, cortical surface area, and subcortical volumes in childhood. However, to which degree ELA influences the trajectory of gray matter macrostructural and microstructural development during childhood and adolescence remains largely unexplored.

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Weak parental monitoring has been identified as a risk factor for self-injurious behavior. However, there remains a dearth of research identifying mechanisms underpinning this relationship. Variance in dual systems model cognitive development (impulse control, sensation-seeking) was tested as a set of mediators of this relationship. The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development data were analyzed. Generalized structural equation modeling was used to test for direct and indirect effects of interest. Weak parental monitoring predicted increased risk for self-injurious behavior at follow-up. Low impulse control significantly mediated this relationship, whereas sensation-seeking was not a significant mediator. These findings indicated the importance of strengthening parental monitoring and fostering healthy impulse control development to prevent self-injurious behavior. A multi-arm program could address these factors at the parent and child level.

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Integrin α3 is critical for proper neuron-glia cell adhesion and dendrite development, implicated in various neurodevelopmental disorders. In this study, mice deficient in integrin α3 (NEX-Itga3 mice) exhibit behavioral anomalies that mirror Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), including increased mobility, impulsive disinhibition and impaired working memory. The mutant mice exhibit a reduced hippocampal volume and decreased α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid receptor (AMPAR) surface distribution in the hippocampus. Utilizing two-pimaging combined with whole-cell recordings, diminished AMPAR function and increased prevalence of silent synapses were observed in the NEX-Itga3 mice. Systemic treatment with methylphenidate (MPH) and intra-hippocampal administration of the dopamine D1 receptor agonist SKF81297 improved ADHD-like behaviors, associated with enhanced dopamine D1 receptor activity and increased insertion of AMPARs in the hippocampus. Our analysis of the ABCD database uncovered a significant positive correlation between reduced integrin α3 expression and the prevalence of ADHD in adolescent humans. By identifying hippocampal AMPAR regulation as a key pathway through which ITGA3 influences ADHD-related phenotypes, this study uncovers a previously underappreciated hippocampal mechanism in ADHD and suggests new therapeutic strategies targeting synaptic modulation and hippocampal circuits.

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Improving diagnostic accuracy of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) using models of brain imaging data is a key goal of the field, but this objective is challenging due to the limited size and phenotypic depth of clinical datasets. Leveraging the phenotypic diversity in large non-clinical datasets such as the UK Biobank (UKBB), offers a potential solution to this problem. Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether classification models trained on non-clinical populations will generalise to individuals with clinical OCD. This question is also relevant for the conceptualisation of OCD; specifically, whether the symptomology of OCD exists on a continuum from normal to pathological. Here, we examined a recently published “meta-matching” model trained on functional connectivity data from five large normative datasets (N = 45,507) to predict cognitive, health and demographic variables. Specifically, we tested whether this model could classify OCD status in three independent datasets (N = 345). We found that the model could identify out-of-sample OCD individuals. Notably, the most predictive functional connectivity features mapped onto known cortico-striatal abnormalities in OCD and correlated with genetic brain expression maps previously implicated in the disorder. Further, the meta-matching model relied upon estimates of cognitive functions, such as cognitive flexibility and inhibition, to successfully predict OCD. These findings suggest that variability in non-clinical brain and behavioural features can discriminate clinical OCD status. These results support a dimensional and transdiagnostic conceptualisation of the brain and behavioural basis of OCD, with implications for research approaches and treatment targets.

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Dopaminergic signaling shapes large-scale brain network architecture, constraining neural communication along a principal gradient that spans unimodal sensorimotor to transmodal association cortices. While more differentiated gradients are typically linked to enhanced cognition, it remains unclear whether dopamine-enhancing psychostimulants, such as methylphenidate (MP), amplify or compress this functional hierarchy to support attention. Across two double-blind, placebo-controlled studies in healthy adults (n = 38 and n = 20), we combined 60 mg oral MP with PET and fMRI to assess striatal dopamine function and cortical organization. MP consistently compressed the principal gradient, reducing segregation between sensory and association areas. The degree of compression predicted individual variation in striatal D1 and D2 receptor availability. MP-induced gradient compression in inferior parietal cortex tracked attention improvements. Critically, we validated key findings in a large, independent cohort from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study (n = 4,958). These results highlight a dopamine-sensitive mechanism linking cortical functional reorganization with cognitive performance.

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Puberty is a developmental period marked by an influx of sex steroids, which trigger physical and psychological changes. Furthermore, puberty elicits changes in structural brain development that are distinct from those associated with chronological age. Emerging evidence suggests that interindividual differences in pubertal development, such as timing, whether one reaches puberty milestones before or after peers, and tempo, or whether one progresses through puberty at a slower or faster rate than peers, may also play a significant role in shaping structural brain development. The present study leverages longitudinal data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development(ABCD Study®) to disentangle the influences of pubertal timing and tempo from chronological age on cortical and subcortical structural brain development during the adolescent period. Individuals with earlier timing tend to exhibit accelerated normative developmental trajectories compared to later timing peers, while individuals with faster tempos tend to exhibit thicker cortices, more cortical surface area, and greater subcortical volume compared to slower tempo peers. These findings underscore the significance of incorporating pubertal timing and tempo into models of structural brain development during puberty, thereby enhancing our understanding of variations in neurodevelopmental trajectories during adolescence.

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Sports and physical activity (sports/PA) participation benefits children psychologically but may be associated with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). We examined associations between individual sports/PA and mTBI, and whether participation is associated with physical, behavioral/emotional, and neurocognitive outcomes among children aged 9-10.

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Though much research links socioeconomic disadvantage to cognitive difficulties during adolescence, many youth demonstrate resilience. Person-centered approaches can be used to quantify this developmental heterogeneity and challenge deficit-centered frameworks. This study leverages person-centered and data-driven methods to quantify and characterize cognitive heterogeneity in a socioeconomically diverse sample of early adolescents from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (N = 9839; 47.7% female sex; M = 9.90 years; 46.7% White). Four profiles were identified based on their access to socioeconomic resources (SER) and multi-domain cognitive functioning, including two profiles characterized by moderate-to-high SER (74.5%) and two profiles characterized by low SER (25.5%). Among youth in low-SER environments, 88.6% demonstrated cognitive performance scores similar to youth with moderate-to-high access to SER (“cognitive resilience”), whereas 11.4% demonstrated markedly lower performance relative to the other profiles (i.e., 1.3-2.3 SD below the sample mean; “cognitive vulnerability”). Ridge regression identified ecological factors associated with profile membership at the individual level and within family, neighborhood, and school contexts. Suburban residence (odds ratio [OR] = 1.30), advanced pubertal maturity (OR = 1.20), bilingualism (OR = 1.14), and greater caregiver monitoring (OR = 1.10) were most strongly associated with lower-SER youths’ membership in the resilient versus the vulnerable profile. Results emphasize the need to challenge deficit-centered frameworks by investigating heterogeneity within profiles of adversity-exposed youth and identifying context-specific risk and protective factors.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted the social aspect of child development. However, few studies have examined its impact on the structural development of children’s brains-particularly the olfactory system-given the reported anosmia. This study aims to assess potential structural differences in the olfactory system among children with reported past COVID-19 infections compared with children who did not report having COVID-19 using data from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. We conducted a time-series analysis of MRI data from the ABCD study to determine if the volume of brain structures associated with the olfactory system was impacted by COVID-19 infection. The ABCD study is comprised of approximately 12,000 children born from 2006 to 2008 from 21 sites across the United States. We used regression analysis to compare the differences in brain volume growth in the structures of the primary and secondary olfactory cortices. Secondarily, we compared brain structure development among those with COVID-19 by whether or not they experienced COVID-related anosmia. Of 2423 participants, 8.1% (n = 195) had prior COVID-19, and 22.97% (n = 34) of those reported anosmia. Children with COVID-19 showed smaller amygdala (P = .023), hippocampus (P = .001), parahippocampal gyrus (P = .004), insula (P = .047), and total cortical volumes (P = .016), with larger volumes in the medial orbitofrontal cortex (P = .047). Those reporting anosmia had a smaller hippocampus (P = .013), right anterior segment of the circular sulcus of the insula (P = .002), left posterior cingulate cortex (P < .001), right posterior cingulate cortex (P = .003), right rostral anterior cingulate cortex (P < .001), and total cortical volume (P < .001) compared to those without anosmia.

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The brainstem houses numerous nuclei and tracts that serve vital functions. Genome-wide associations with brainstem substructure volumes have been explored in European individuals, yet other ancestries remain under-represented. Here, we conduct cross-ancestry genome-wide association meta-analyses in 103,098 individuals for brainstem and 78,062 individuals for eight substructure volumes, including 7094 Chinese Han individuals. We identify 713 locus-trait associations with brainstem and substructure volumes at P < 5.56 ×10, comprising 569 new associations. Two associations show different effect sizes, while 496 associations have similar effect sizes between ancestries. We prioritize 186 genes associated with brainstem volumetric traits. We find both shared and distinct genetic loci, genes, and pathways for midbrain, pons, and medulla volumes, along with the shared genetic architectures related to disease phenotypes and physiological functions. The results provide new insights into the genetic architectures of brainstem and substructure volumes and their genetic associations with brainstem physiologies and pathologies.

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Cognitive impairment (problems in thinking, learning, remembering, judging, and decision-making) is central to many psychiatric disorders and may often appear well before the symptom onset. Given the moderate heritability of psychiatric disorders, children with first-degree relatives affected by severe mental illness are at higher risk and may show early psychiatric symptoms. Our study explored the potential association between cognitive functioning and early subsyndromal transdiagnostic psychiatric symptoms in at-risk youth. We compared 924 at-risk youth (aged nine to ten) with 924 matched controls from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. At-risk youth performed worse than controls in episodic memory, executive function, and working memory and exhibited more psychiatric symptoms (i.e., emotional dysfunction, psychosis and externalizing symptoms) than controls. Multivariate partial least squares in at-risk youth revealed a pattern linking heightened psychiatric symptoms with reduced cognitive performance across all domains except executive function, driven primarily by memory and language abilities, suggesting the well-established link between cognitive dysfunction and psychiatric symptoms is already present in at-risk youth, even prior to manifestation of clinically meaningful levels of cognitive impairment or psychiatric symptoms. Such an association could potentially guide prediction, prevention and early intervention for children who are at risk of developing mental illness later in life.

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To investigate associations between social jet lag and the developing adolescent brain.

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At the population level, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are known to have a detrimental influence on health and well-being in later life. Research is key to guiding prevention and intervention initiatives by elucidating how childhood adversity experiences impact development. With this objective in mind, our investigation focuses on aspects of adolescent development that are sensitive to ACE exposure and implicated in adult psychopathology: namely, pubertal timing and cognitive self-regulation (i.e., executive functions: EF).

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We propose a latent space-based statistical network analysis (LatentSNA) method that implements network science in a generative Bayesian framework, preserves neurologically meaningful brain topology and improves statistical power for imaging biomarker detection. LatentSNA (1) addresses the lack of power and inflated type II errors in current analytic approaches when detecting imaging biomarkers, (2) allows unbiased estimation of the influence of biomarkers on behavioral variants, (3) quantifies uncertainty and evaluates the likelihood of estimated biomarker effects against chance and (4) improves brain-behavior prediction in new samples as well as the clinical utility of neuroimaging findings. LatentSNA is broadly applicable across multiple imaging modalities and outcome measures in developing, aging and transdiagnostic cohorts, totaling 8,003 to 11,861 participants. LatentSNA achieves substantial accuracy gains (averaging 110-150%) and replicability improvements (averaging 153%) over existing approaches in moderate to large datasets. As a result, LatentSNA elucidates how network topology is implicated in brain-behavior relationships.

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Delay discounting tasks are increasingly used across psychology to examine self-regulation and value-based decision making. These tasks assess how individuals devalue rewards as delays to receipt increase, with responses expected to follow a decreasing pattern. When participants report higher valuation at longer delays-a violation of this expected trend-such responses are often flagged as nonsystematic and, in many cases, excluded from analysis. Although intended to optimize data quality, such exclusions may systematically bias samples and distort downstream inferences. Using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study ( = 11,307), we examined whether nonsystematic responding covaried with demographic, cognitive/behavioral, and environmental characteristics. Nearly half of participants exhibited at least one nonsystematic responding violation, with greater likelihood among youth from low-income households, low-resource neighborhoods, and racially minoritized backgrounds. Nonsystematic responding was also associated with lower abstract reasoning and higher positive urgency. Violations disproportionately occurred at the earliest presented task delays, suggesting a possible learning effect. These findings raise concerns that data exclusion criteria may bias behavioral samples and alter conclusions in translational research domains such as addiction science, behavioral pharmacology, and public health. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

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Neighborhood disadvantage may adversely affect adolescent sleep health, yet causal evidence is limited and whether these effects differ by sex and pubertal development remain unclear. This study examined the potential causal effect of neighborhood disadvantage on adolescent sleep duration and variability over a two-year period.

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Longitudinal evidence on social media use and cognitive abilities trajectory coupling across early adolescence is sparse. In this study, data from the ABCD Study (Baseline N ~ 12,000; M = 9.9; White = 52.0%, Hispanic = 20.3%, Black = 15.0%, Asian = 2.1%, Other = 10.5%; Female = 47.8%) were used to examine whether growth processes in social media use and cognitive performances (i.e., crystallized abilities, inhibitory control/attention, and processing speed) were associated over 4 years in early adolescence. Parallel process latent growth curve models revealed that the trajectory of social media use was negatively coupled with crystallized and inhibitory control/attention performance trajectories, indicating potential trade-offs. Conversely, the trajectories of social media and processing speed were positively coupled, possibly due to practice-based transfer.

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Many adolescents experience peer victimization during this critical period for development. Emotion regulation strategies, including cognitive reappraisal and emotional suppression, can help adolescents cope with such experiences. Although unidirectional relations between peer victimization and emotion regulation strategies have been examined, few studies have explored the potential bidirectional relations of these variables (Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 24, 141). Using a cross-lagged panel model and data from the ABCD Study, we investigated the reciprocal relations between relational victimization, reputational victimization, overt victimization, cognitive reappraisal, and emotional suppression from 11 to 14 years. The sample consisted of 11,868 USA adolescents (6181 boys, 5664 girls, 17 other), and 6173 identified as White (1784 Black, 2410 Hispanic, 252 Asian, and 1247 Other). Results did not support a bidirectional relation of victimization and emotion regulation strategy. Instead, the type of victimization was associated with specific emotion regulation strategies, but emotional regulation strategies were not significantly associated with any type of peer victimization. Future research should consider the complex contextual and developmental aspects related to promoting emotion-focused coping strategies.

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Global warming, urbanization, coal-burning pollution, and global wildfires draw attention to the necessity of bridging gaps in our current understanding of the effects of fine particulate matter (PM) on neurodevelopment. Despite evidence of environmental contaminants having deleterious effects on cognition and neurodevelopment in particularly sensitive areas like the hippocampus that have prolonged plasticity, much of this work examines a single time point (e.g., prenatal exposure) in single site studies. As a result, it is unclear whether deleterious effects accumulate over development.

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Although the link between psychopathological and behavioral issues and suicidality is well-established, existing studies often focus on static timepoints, neglecting their dynamic nature and sex differences. This study investigates the trajectories of these symptoms from late childhood to early adolescence and their association with suicidality, while also examining variations by sex.

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Suicide is the second leading cause of death in adolescents in the United States. There is an urgent need to advance understanding of risk mechanisms in adolescents to guide early interventions. While prior research has implicated cognition, neural connectivity, and psychopathology in relation to adolescent suicidal ideation (SI) and nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), there is a relative lack of clarity regarding the causal structure of these factors, particularly in early adolescence.

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Given concerns regarding health implications of adolescent smartphone use, we tested associations of smartphone ownership and age of smartphone acquisition with depression, obesity, and insufficient sleep in early adolescence. We hypothesized that smartphone ownership, especially at a younger age, would be associated with worse health outcomes.

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Adolescence is a critical period for the development of mental health problems, with self-regulation playing a crucial role as a protective factor. However, little is known about the self-regulation development in adolescence and how this is influenced by environmental factors such as negative life events (NLEs) and parental mental health problems. This study aimed to examine changes in self-regulation and the predictive effect of NLEs and parental mental health problems on self-regulation.

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Adolescent depression rates increased during the COVID-19 pandemic globally. Data on risk and resilience factors can inform prevention and intervention strategies during a major adversity.

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Pediatric obesity rates are rising, and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) may contribute by promoting stress-induced weight gain. Few studies have examined the association of ACEs with body mass index (BMI) and youth-reported protective factors, particularly among Latinx and Hispanic youths, who face higher rates of ACEs and obesity.

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Poor sleep health is a significant concern in adolescents. This study examines the social epidemiology of sleep health in a large, diverse, national US sample of early adolescents.

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The gender gap in offending is a robust finding, and this gap extends to violent offending. However, there is limited research that has explored mechanisms explaining this relationship in childhood and early adolescence. This is concerning because early onset of antisocial behavior like this may increase the risk for chronic engagement in such behavior. Cognitive development and parental monitoring both differ by gender, also indicating that these may present mediating mechanisms explaining the gender gap in violent offending during this period of the life-course. Cognitive development pertaining to the dual systems model was examined here, that is, the difference in the concurrent development of impulse control and sensation-seeking, or dual systems imbalance. The present study addresses this gap in the literature by examining the dual systems model imbalance and parental monitoring as mediators of the gender-violent offending relationship. The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development-Social Development data were analyzed. This consists of a sample of 2,422 youth aged 9 to 10 years old at baseline (Boys = 52.31%; Girls = 47.69%). Generalized structural equation modeling was used to test for direct and indirect relationships of interest. Findings indicated that boys reported a greater risk for violent offending than girls. Dual systems imbalance significantly mediated this relationship, but parental monitoring did not. These results highlight the importance of fostering healthy cognitive development among young boys to prevent violent offending.

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Objective
Sleep disturbances have been linked to suicide risk, but few studies have explored these effects during the transition from childhood to adolescence. This study examined whether specific trajectories of sleep disturbance across childhood and early adolescence were associated with greater suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STB) for youth in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development℠ Study (ABCD Study®).

Method
Data from 11,864 participants in the ABCD study (data release 5.1) were used in the current study. Youth STB was assessed by the KSADS suicidality module. The Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children measured sleep disturbance. Latent Class Growth Analysis (LCGA) was used to identify sleep trajectories and Bayesian ordinal regression models were used to examine whether sleep trajectories were differentially associated with STB during the 2-, 3-, and 4-year follow-up.

Results
LCGA identified 3 latent sleep profiles (low-stable, high-decreasing, and moderate-increasing). Sleep profiles with greater disturbance including both high-decreasing (OR=1.75, 95% CI [1.06, 2.89], p=0.030) and moderate-increasing (OR=2.34, 95% CI [1.72, 3.14], p<.001), were linked to higher likelihood of more severe STB outcomes compared to the low-stable group.

Conclusion
This study identified distinct developmental trajectories of sleep disturbance across childhood and early adolescence linked to STB. Specifically, early high sleep disturbances that improved and moderate disturbances that worsened over time were both associated with greater STB severity. Difficulty falling and staying asleep and excessive sleepiness were common in both patterns. These findings highlight the need to identify and address early and/or worsening sleep problems as a potential target for suicide prevention strategies.

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Few large U.S. cohort studies have examined multidimensional measures of gender diversity; therefore, this study investigates their associations with sociodemographic factors in a national sample of 12- to 13-year-old adolescents.

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Dramatic increases in adolescent social media use have occurred alongside worsening adolescent mental and behavioral health and associated risk factors, including adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Understanding these relationships is important for mental health nurses working with adversity-impacted adolescents. This study examined the association between ACEs exposure and problematic social media use (PSMU), and the moderating role of emotional and behavioral dysregulation among a diverse sample of young United States’ (US) adolescents (10-14 years old). A secondary analysis using mixed-effects linear modeling was used to analyze adolescent and parent self-report data collected from baseline through 3-year follow-up in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (ABCD Study). After adjusting for socio-demographic covariates, a significant positive association was found between adolescent cumulative ACEs score at 10-12 years and higher PSMU at 12-14 years: relative to adolescents with low (< 2) ACEs, those with high () ACEs reported higher PSMU (β = 1.5,  < 0.001). Adolescent emotional and behavioral dysregulation did not moderate this association. Findings underscore the importance of ACEs and mental health screening, as well as trauma-informed, developmentally appropriate preventative interventions to promote healthy social media use and reduce risk for PSMU among adversity-impacted adolescents.

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The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) has gained significant traction in clinical psychological science. However, HiTOP has not been extensively validated across diverse populations. This study tested measurement invariance-the degree to which latent constructs are measured with equivalence across groups-in HiTOP across racial and ethnic groups using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. These models were followed with rigorous tests of construct validation (i.e., convergent, discriminant, and concurrent) on the latent factors using a Multitrait-Multimethod (MTMM) framework. Comparing across non-Hispanic White ( 7,166), Hispanic ( 2,411), and non-Hispanic Black ( 1,862) youths, the five-factor model comprising , and factors demonstrated configural, metric, scalar, and strict measurement invariance. While each of the five factors demonstrated good evidence of concurrent and convergent validity, evidence for their discriminant validity was not as robust. Establishing measurement invariance and construct validity of the HiTOP model has critical scientific and clinical implications, particularly if dimensions are to be used in addressing mental health disparities in minoritized populations.

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Although many studies examine adolescent physical activity (PA) guideline adherence, few focus on the lowest end of the PA spectrum-engaging in no-to-low moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA).

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Little is known about the predictors of loneliness in childhood and adolescence compared with late adulthood. Addressing the methodological limitations of recent studies on environment-loneliness associations, this study investigated the associations between a comprehensive list of built environment attributes in early life and longitudinal trajectories of loneliness from childhood to adolescence, considering together with demographic, personal, and social characteristics.

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This study aimed to examine longitudinal changes in screen time, sleep, and sports/exercise activity in early adolescents in the United States.

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Socioeconomic hardship (SES-H) is a known risk factor for adolescent suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STB). This study examined sleep health as a pathway linking SES-H to suicide risk and evaluated the moderating role of Default Mode Network (DMN) coherence. Data came from three waves of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study (N = 11,878). Increased SES-H predicted greater suicidal ideation and attempts. Shorter sleep duration mediated the association with ideation, while high DMN coherence attenuated the indirect effect of SES-H on ideation via sleep. Findings highlight sleep health as a mechanism connecting socioeconomic adversity to suicidality and suggest DMN coherence may function as a neuroprotective factor for youth resilience.

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Children born preterm face elevated risks of atypical brain development and neurodevelopmental difficulties. However, little is known about childhood outcomes specifically associated with premature birth that are unconfounded by medical complications. This study takes a systematic approach to examine neural and behavioral outcomes in non-medically complex preterm children. The aim is to identify unconfounded neurobehavioral biomarkers and mechanisms that contribute to childhood vulnerability following premature birth, ultimately informing the development of effective interventions to mitigate adverse outcomes in this population.

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