Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms Among Children in the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Study: Clinical, Cognitive, and Brain Connectivity Correlates

Childhood Experiences of Abuse but Not Neglect Predict the Trajectory of Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms in the College Students: A Latent Growth Curve Analysis

According to the Dimensional Model of Adversity and Psychopathology (DMAP), childhood trauma (CT) can be categorised into two dimensions: abuse and neglect. While CT is widely recognized as a risk factor for obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS), the specific dimension that primarily contributes to this risk remains unclear. This study sought to distinguish the effects of different CT dimensions on the developmental trajectory of OCS. A total of 3535 Chinese college freshmen (Age Mean = 18.01, Age SD = 0.77; 65.60% female) participated in a 3-year, 5-waves longitudinal tracking study. A latent growth curve model (LGCM) was constructed to examine the effects of two CT dimensions (abuse and neglect) on the developmental trajectory of OCS. Sex and recent perceived stress were also added to the conditional LGCM. Results showed that the rates of 'moderate to severe' emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional neglect, and physical neglect were 3.68%, 3.62%, 5.57%, 10.46%, and 19.54%, respectively. The unconditional LGCM revealed a U-shaped developmental trajectory of OCS. The conditional LGCM revealed that childhood experiences of abuse, rather than neglect, significantly predicted the intercept (β = 0.159, p < 0.001), the linear slope (β = -0.222, p < 0.01), and the quadratic slope (β = 0.195, p < 0.05) of the trajectory of OCS. Specifically, higher abuse levels were associated with higher initial OCS levels and a slower rate in linear downtrend of OCS over time, resulting in a U-shaped trend. Besides, sex did not predict the developmental trajectory of OCS. These findings highlight the association between childhood experiences of abuse, rather than neglect, with the development of OCS and may provide targeted direction and guidance for preventing OCS among Chinese college students.

Longitudinal Sex-at-Birth and Age Analyses of Cortical Structure in the ABCD Study

While the brain continues to develop during adolescence, such development may depend on sex-at-birth. However, the elucidation of such differences may be hindered by analytical decisions (e.g., covariate selection to address brain-size differences) and the typical reporting of cross-sectional data. To further evaluate adolescent cortical development, we analyzed data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, whose cohort of 11,000+ youth participants with biannual neuroimaging data collection can facilitate understanding neuroanatomical change during a critical developmental window. Doubly considering individual differences within the context of group-level effects, we analyzed regional changes in cortical thickness, sulcal depth, surface area, and volume between two timepoints (∼2 years apart) in 9- to 12-year-olds assigned male or female sex-at-birth. First, we conducted linear mixed-effect models to gauge how controlling for intracranial volume, whole-brain volume (WBV), or a summary metric (e.g., mean cortical thickness) influenced interpretations of age-dependent cortical change. Next, we evaluated the relative changes in thickness and surface area as a function of sex-at-birth and age. Here, we showed that WBV (thickness, sulcal depth, volume) and total cortical surface area were more optimal covariates; controlling for different covariates would have substantially altered our interpretations of overall and sex-at-birth-specific neuroanatomical development. Furthermore, we provided evidence to suggest that aggregate change in how cortical thickness is changing relative to surface area is generally comparable across those assigned male or female sex-at-birth, with corresponding change happening at slightly older ages in those assigned male sex-at-birth. Overall, these results help elucidate neuroanatomical developmental trajectories in early adolescence.

Structural Brain Correlates of Anxiety During Development

Anxiety and related disorders are prevalent across the lifespan, often have their onset during youth, and are associated with notable levels of impairment and burden across multiple domains. Elucidating the associations between differential patterns of neurodevelopment and anxiety in youth is a promising approach for developing deeper insights regarding the neurobiological etiologies and maintenance factors associated with anxiety and related disorders. A growing body of literature has yielded evidence of associations between patterns of brain structure (i.e., volume, cortical thickness, and cortical surface area) and anxiety. Here, we present a review and synthesis of the existing body of literature surrounding neurostructural correlates of anxiety in youth spanning multiple anxiety presentations and three neurostructural modalities. We reveal substantially more research focusing on brain volume than cortical thickness or surface area and a greater number of studies examining anxiety broadly defined, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or posttraumatic stress disorder. There is also evidence of considerable variability in the brain regions implicated and the direction of associations across studies. Finally, we discuss the gaps and limitations in this body of work, which suggest avenues for future directions.

Resting-state brain networks alterations in adolescents with Internet Gaming Disorder associate with cognitive control impairments

Objective

Research indicates that cognitive control is compromised in individuals with internet gaming disorder (IGD). However, the neural mechanisms behind it are still unclear. This study aims to investigate alterations in resting-state brain networks in adolescents with IGD and the potential neurobiological mechanisms underlying cognitive dysfunction.

Materials and methods

A total of 44 adolescent IGD subjects (male/female: 38/6) and 50 healthy controls (male/female: 40/10) were enrolled. Participants underwent demographic assessments, Young's Internet Addiction Scale, Barratt Impulsiveness Scale 11 Chinese Revised Version, the Chinese Adolescents' Maladaptive Cognitions Scale, exploratory eye movement tests, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). FMRI data were analyzed using the GIFT software for independent component analysis, focusing on functional connectivity within and between resting-state brain networks.

Results

In comparison to the control group, impulsivity in adolescent IGD subjects showed a positive correlation with the severity of IGD (r=0.6350, p < 0.001), linked to impairments in the Executive Control Network (ECN) and a decrease in functional connectivity between the Salience Network (SN) and ECN (r=0.4307, p=0.0021; r=-0.5147, p=0.0034). Decreased resting state activity of the dorsal attention network (DAN) was associated with attentional dysregulation of IGD in adolescents (r=0.4071, p=0.0017), and ECN increased functional connectivity with DAN. The degree of IGD was positively correlated with enhanced functional connectivity between the ECN and DAN (r=0.4283, p=0.0037).

Conclusions

This research demonstrates that changes in the ECN and DAN correlate with heightened impulsivity and attentional deficits in adolescents with IGD. The interaction between cognitive control disorders and resting-state brain networks in adolescent IGD is related.

Comparing the stability and reproducibility of brain-behavior relationships found using canonical correlation analysis and partial least squares within the ABCD sample

Canonical correlation analysis (CCA) and partial least squares correlation (PLS) detect linear associations between two data matrices by computing latent variables (LVs) having maximal correlation (CCA) or covariance (PLS). This study compared the similarity and generalizability of CCA- and PLS-derived brain-behavior relationships. Data were accessed from the baseline Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) dataset (N > 9,000, 9-11 years). The brain matrix consisted of cortical thickness estimates from the Desikan-Killiany atlas. Two phenotypic scales were examined separately as the behavioral matrix; the Child Behavioral Checklist (CBCL) subscale scores and NIH Toolbox performance scores. Resampling methods were used to assess significance and generalizability of LVs. LV1 for the CBCL brain relationships was found to be significant, yet not consistently stable or reproducible, across CCA and PLS models (singular value: CCA = .13, PLS = .39, p < .001). LV1 for the NIH brain relationships showed similar relationships between CCA and PLS and was found to be stable and reproducible (singular value: CCA = .21, PLS = .43, p < .001). The current study suggests that stability and reproducibility of brain-behavior relationships identified by CCA and PLS are influenced by the statistical characteristics of the phenotypic measure used when applied to a large population-based pediatric sample.

Sex-specific associations of adolescent motherhood with cognitive function, behavioral problems, and autistic-like traits in offspring and the mediating roles of family conflict and altered brain structure

BACKGROUND

Previous studies have linked adolescent motherhood to adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes in offspring, yet the sex-specific effect and underlying mechanisms remain unclear.

METHODS

This study included 6952 children aged 9-11 from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study. The exposed group consisted of children of mothers < 20 years at the time of birth, while the unexposed group was composed of children of mothers aged 20-35 at birth. We employed a generalized linear mixed model to investigate the associations of adolescent motherhood with cognitive, behavioral, and autistic-like traits in offspring. We applied an inverse-probability-weighted marginal structural model to examine the potential mediating factors including adverse perinatal outcomes, family conflict, and brain structure alterations.

RESULTS

Our results revealed that children of adolescent mothers had significantly lower cognitive scores (β, - 2.11, 95% CI, - 2.90 to - 1.31), increased externalizing problems in male offspring (mean ratio, 1.28, 95% CI, 1.08 to 1.52), and elevated internalizing problems (mean ratio, 1.14, 95% CI, 0.99 to 1.33) and autistic-like traits (mean ratio, 1.22, 95% CI, 1.01 to 1.47) in female. A stressful family environment mediated ~ 70% of the association with internalizing problems in females, ~ 30% with autistic-like traits in females, and ~ 20% with externalizing problems in males. Despite observable brain morphometric changes related to adolescent motherhood, these did not act as mediating factors in our analysis, after adjusting for family environment. No elevated rate of adverse perinatal outcomes was observed in the offspring of adolescent mothers in this study.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results reveal distinct sex-specific neurodevelopmental outcomes impacts of being born to adolescent mothers, with a substantial mediating effect of family environment on behavioral outcomes. These findings highlight the importance of developing sex-tailored interventions and support the hypothesis that family environment significantly impacts the neurodevelopmental consequences of adolescent motherhood.

Deficiency in Self-Control: Unraveling Psychological and Behavioral Risk Factors for Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms in College Students

Objective

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a complex mental disorder to treat. However, there are some deficiencies in research performed to date about the psychological and behavioral factors that may trigger obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS). Based on the Psychopathology of Self-Control Theory which states that deficits in self-control underpin psychiatric symptoms, this study investigated the factors influencing OCS among college students.

Methods

A total of 5599 non-clinical Chinese college students were recruited to complete the Chinese version of the Self-Control Scale, Aitken Procrastination Inventory, and Symptom Checklist-90. Pearson's correlation analyses and the bootstrap method were performed to test our hypothesis.

Results

The following results were obtained: (a) There were significant correlations among self-control, procrastination, anxiety, and OCS. (b) When controlling for the effects of age and sex, self-control remained a significant negative predictor of OCS. (c) The mediating roles of procrastination and anxiety, and the chain mediating role of procrastination and anxiety were the three predicted pathways linking self-control and OCS.

Conclusion

This study highlights the significance of self-control deficiencies in OCS. It provides new insights into the psychological and behavioral factors that increase the risk of OCS with important practical implications for early intervention in OCD.

Dissecting Psychiatric Heterogeneity and Comorbidity with Core Region-Based Machine Learning

Machine learning approaches are increasingly being applied to neuroimaging data from patients with psychiatric disorders to extract brain-based features for diagnosis and prognosis. The goal of this review is to discuss recent practices for evaluating machine learning applications to obsessive-compulsive and related disorders and to advance a novel strategy of building machine learning models based on a set of core brain regions for better performance, interpretability, and generalizability. Specifically, we argue that a core set of co-altered brain regions (namely 'core regions') comprising areas central to the underlying psychopathology enables the efficient construction of a predictive model to identify distinct symptom dimensions/clusters in individual patients. Hypothesis-driven and data-driven approaches are further introduced showing how core regions are identified from the entire brain. We demonstrate a broadly applicable roadmap for leveraging this core set-based strategy to accelerate the pursuit of neuroimaging-based markers for diagnosis and prognosis in a variety of psychiatric disorders.

White matter abnormalities in paediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder: a systematic review of diffusion tensor imaging studies

Microstructural alterations in white matter are evident in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) both in adult and paediatric populations. Paediatric patients go through the process of maturation and thus may undergo different pathophysiology than adult OCD. Findings from studies in paediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder have been inconsistent, possibly due to their small sample size or heterogeneous populations. The aim of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview of white matter structures in paediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder and their correlation with clinical features. Based on PRISMA guidelines, we performed a systematic search on diffusion tensor imaging studies that reported fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity, radial diffusivity, or axial diffusivity alterations between paediatric patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and healthy controls using voxel-based analysis, or tract-based spatial statistics. We identified fifteen relevant studies. Most studies reported changes predominantly in the corpus callosum, cingulum, arcuate fasciculus, uncinate fasciculus, inferior longitudinal fasciculus, superior longitudinal fasciculus, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, corticospinal tract, forceps minor and major, and the cerebellum in paediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder. These alterations included increased and decreased fractional anisotropy and radial diffusivity, and increased mean and axial diffusivity in different white matter tracts. These changes were associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms. Moreover, specific genetic polymorphisms were linked with cerebellar white matter changes in paediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder. White matter changes are widespread in paediatric OCD patients. These changes are often associated with symptoms however there are controversies in the direction of changes in some tracts.

Error-related brain activity associated with obsessive-compulsive symptoms in youth

BACKGROUND

Subclinical obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) are common in children, and increase risk for later onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). In pediatric patients with OCD, neuroimaging research implicates altered neural mechanisms for error-processing, but whether abnormal brain response occurs with subclinical OCS remains poorly understood.

METHODS

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), 113 youth (8-18 years; 45 female) from a community sample were scanned during an error-eliciting Go/No-Go task. OCS were assessed dimensionally using the obsessive-compulsive subscale of the Child Behavior Checklist. The association between OCS scores and error-related brain activity was examined at the whole-brain level.

RESULTS

Lower OCS scores associated with stronger response to errors in dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), caudate, putamen, thalamus, and occipital cortex. Additionally, lower OCS related to higher capacity for inhibitory control, as indexed by greater accuracy on No-Go trials during fMRI scanning. The relationship between lower OCS and better accuracy on No-Go trials was mediated by greater error-related dACC activity.

CONCLUSIONS

The inverse relationship between OCS and error-related activity in the dACC and extended cortical-striatal-thalamic circuitry may index an adaptive process by which subclinical OCS are minimized in youth. Further, these results identify an observable pattern of brain activity that tracks with subclinical OCS severity. Understanding the link between neural networks for error processing and the normal to abnormal range of OCS may pave the way for brain-based strategies to identify children who are more likely to develop OCD and enable the targeting of preventive strategies to reduce risk.

White matter microstructure shows sex differences in late childhood: Evidence from 6797 children

Sex differences in white matter microstructure have been robustly demonstrated in the adult brain using both conventional and advanced diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging approaches. However, sex differences in white matter microstructure prior to adulthood remain poorly understood; previous developmental work focused on conventional microstructure metrics and yielded mixed results. Here, we rigorously characterized sex differences in white matter microstructure among over 6000 children from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study who were between 9 and 10 years old. Microstructure was quantified using both the conventional model-diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)-and an advanced model, restriction spectrum imaging (RSI). DTI metrics included fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean, axial, and radial diffusivity (MD, AD, RD). RSI metrics included normalized isotropic, directional, and total intracellular diffusion (N0, ND, NT). We found significant and replicable sex differences in DTI or RSI microstructure metrics in every white matter region examined across the brain. Sex differences in FA were regionally specific. Across white matter regions, boys exhibited greater MD, AD, and RD than girls, on average. Girls displayed increased N0, ND, and NT compared to boys, on average, suggesting greater cell and neurite density in girls. Together, these robust and replicable findings provide an important foundation for understanding sex differences in health and disease.

Connectome-wide Functional Connectivity Abnormalities in Youth With Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms

BACKGROUND

Obsessive-compulsive symptomatology (OCS) is common in adolescence but usually does not meet the diagnostic threshold for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Nevertheless, both obsessive-compulsive disorder and subthreshold OCS are associated with increased likelihood of experiencing other serious psychiatric conditions, including depression and suicidal ideation. Unfortunately, there is limited information on the neurobiology of OCS.

METHODS

Here, we undertook one of the first brain imaging studies of OCS in a large adolescent sample (analyzed n = 832) from the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort. We investigated resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging functional connectivity using complementary analytic approaches that focus on different neuroanatomical scales, from known functional systems to connectome-wide tests.

RESULTS

We found a robust pattern of connectome-wide, OCS-related differences, as well as evidence of specific abnormalities involving known functional systems, including dorsal and ventral attention, frontoparietal, and default mode systems. Analysis of cerebral perfusion imaging and high-resolution structural imaging did not show OCS-related differences, consistent with domain specificity to functional connectivity.

CONCLUSIONS

The brain connectomic associations with OCS reported here, together with early studies of its clinical relevance, support the potential for OCS as an early marker of psychiatric risk that may enhance our understanding of mechanisms underlying the onset of adolescent psychopathology.

Obsessive compulsive symptom dimensions are linked to altered white-matter microstructure in a community sample of youth

Obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) are common in school-aged children and predict the development of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). White-matter abnormalities have been described in OCD, but the white matter correlates of OCS in the developing brain are unclear. Some correlates of OCS (or a diagnosis of OCD) may reflect correlates of a transdiagnostic or even general psychopathology factor. We examined these questions in a large sample of typically developing youth (N = 1208), using a hierarchical analysis of fixel-based white matter measures in relation to OCS and general psychopathology. General psychopathology was associated with abnormalities in the posterior corpus callosum and forceps major in an age-dependent manner, suggesting altered maturation (specifically, hypermaturation in younger subjects). A unidimensional measure of OCS did not associate with any white-matter abnormalities, but analysis of separate OCS dimensions (derived from factor analysis within this sample) revealed the 'Bad Thoughts' dimension to associate with white-matter abnormalities in dorsal parietal white-matter and descending corticospinal tracts, and the 'Symmetry' dimension to associate with abnormalities in the anterior corpus callosum. Repetition/checking and Symmetry OCS were additionally associated with posterior abnormalities overlapping with the correlates of general psychopathology. Contamination symptoms had no white-matter correlates. Secondary analysis of fractional anisotropy (FA) revealed distinct white-matter abnormalities, suggesting that fixel-based and FA analyses identify distinct features of white matter relevant to psychopathology. These findings suggest that OCS dimensions correlate with dissociable abnormalities in white matter, implicating separable networks. Future studies should examine these white-matter signatures in a longitudinal framework.

Obsessive-compulsive symptoms and resting-state functional characteristics in pre-adolescent children from the general population

While functional brain characteristics of obsessive-compulsive disorder have been extensively studied, literature on network topology and subnetwork connectivity related to obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) is sparse. Here we investigated the functional brain characteristics of OCS in children from the general population using a multiscale approach. Since we previously observed OCS-related differences in thalamus morphology, we also focused on the network participation of thalamic subregions. The study included 1701 participants (9-12 years) from the population-based Generation R study. OCS were measured using the Short Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Screener. We studied the brain network at multiple scales: global network topology, subnetwork connectivity and network participation of thalamic nodes (pre-registration: https://osf.io/azr9c ). Modularity, small-worldness and average participation coefficient were calculated on the global scale. We used a data-driven consensus community approach to extract a partition of five subnetworks involving thalamic subregions and calculate the within- and between-subnetwork functional connectivity and topology. Multiple linear regression models were fitted to model the relationship between OCS and functional brain measures. No significant associations were found when using our preregistered definition of probable OCS. However, post-hoc analyses showed that children endorsing at least one OCS (compared with controls) had higher modularity, lower connectivity between frontoparietal, limbic and visual networks as well as altered participation of the lateral prefrontal thalamus node. Our results suggest that network characteristics of OCS in children from the general population are partly symptom-specific and severity-dependent. Thorough assessment of symptom dimensions can deepen our understanding of OCS-related brain networks.