Brain development mediates the relationship between self-reported poor parental monitoring and adolescent anxiety

Yiman Li; Zheyi Zhou; Yuqi Zhang; Hui Ai; Mingfang Liu; Jing Liu; Li Wang; Jiang Qiu; Zhuo Rachel Han; Zhanjun Zhang; Yue-Jia Luo; Pengfei Xu

doi:10.1016/j.nicl.2023.103514

Brain development mediates the relationship between self-reported poor parental monitoring and adolescent anxiety

Neuroimage Clin. 2023:40:103514. doi: 10.1016/j.nicl.2023.103514. Epub 2023 Sep 23.

Authors

Yiman Li¹, Zheyi Zhou², Yuqi Zhang³, Hui Ai⁴, Mingfang Liu⁵, Jing Liu⁶, Li Wang⁷, Jiang Qiu⁸, Zhuo Rachel Han⁹, Zhanjun Zhang¹⁰, Yue-Jia Luo¹¹, Pengfei Xu¹²

Affiliations

¹ School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China; Institute for Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, University of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Qingdao, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (BNU), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
³ School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.
⁴ Institute of Applied Psychology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China; Academy of Medical Engineering and Translational Medicine, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China.
⁵ Community Health Service Center, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
⁶ The China Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders & Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China; Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
⁷ College of Electronic Information and Automation, Civil Aviation University of China, Tianjin, China.
⁸ School of Psychology, Southwest University (SWU), Chongqing, China.
⁹ Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (BNU), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
¹⁰ State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
¹¹ School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China; Institute for Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, University of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Qingdao, China; State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: luoyj@bnu.edu.cn.
¹² Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (BNU), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China; Center for Emotion and Brain, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen, China. Electronic address: pxu@bnu.edu.cn.

Abstract

Adolescence is the peak period for the onset of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Brain networks of cognitive and affective control in adolescents are not well developed when their exposure to external stimuli suddenly increases.Reasonable parental monitoring is especially important during this period.To examine the role of parental monitoring in the development of functional brain networks of GAD, we conducted a cross-validation-based predictive study based on the functional brain networks of 192 participants. We found that a set of functional brain networks, especially the default mode network and its connectivity with the frontoparietal network, could predict the ages of adolescents, which was replicated in three independent samples.Importantly, the difference between predicted age and chronological age significantly mediated the relationship between parental monitoring and anxiety levels. These findings suggest that inadequate parental monitoring plays a crucial role in the delayed development of specific brain networks associated with GAD in adolescents. Our work highlights the important role of parental monitoring in adolescent development.

Keywords: Brain age; Functional brain network; Generalized anxiety disorder; Parental monitoring; Predicted age difference.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Anxiety Disorders*
Anxiety*
Brain / diagnostic imaging
Brain Mapping
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Self Report
Surveys and Questionnaires