Potential Mediating Role of the Default Mode Network on Parental Acceptance/Warmth and Psychopathology in Youth

• In Event: Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Topic - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

Humans are reliant on their caregivers for an extended period of time, offering numerous opportunities for environmental factors, such as parental attitudes and behaviors, to impact brain development (Kopala‐Sibley et al., 2020). The default mode network (DMN) is a neural system implicated in aspects of cognition (Li, Mai & Liu, 2014) and psychopathology (Gaffrey et al., 2012) that appears to be amenable to the effects of parenting (Rebello et al., 2017). Resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) studies have shown that the DMN does not begin to show connectivity amongst all regions until ages 7-9 years and does not reach full maturity until well into young adulthood (Fair et al., 2008). Delayed DMN maturation in youth is associated with greater general dimensional psychopathology (Sato et al., 2016), and evidence suggests that positive parenting behaviors serve as protective mechanisms against atypical DMN development (Whittle et al., 2017). To our knowledge, these relationships have yet to be investigated in a single model. In this study, we predicted that higher scores on the Acceptance subscale of the Child’s Report of Parent Behavior Inventory (CRPBI-Acceptance; Schaefer, 1965) would be associated with higher within-DMN RSFC, which in turn would be associated with lower T-scores on the Total Problems subscale of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach, 2009). To represent these relations in a single model, a mediation analysis was employed to test the prediction that within-DMN RSFC would mediate the relationship between CRPBI-Acceptance and CBCL scores. These hypotheses were investigated in a community sample of 9,058 children ages 9-10.9 years from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) dataset. To explore these relationships using a dimensional approach to psychopathology, rather than a diagnostic approach, we did not exclude for any psychiatric diagnoses, consistent with other work of a similar nature (Sato et al., 2016). Results from the mediation analysis indicated that the direct effect (path A) of CRPBI-Acceptance scores on within-DMN RSFC was positive and significant (b = .0029, SE = .0006, p < .001, 95%CI = [.0017, .0041]) and the direct effect (path C’) of CRPBI-Acceptance scores on CBCL Total Problems T-scores was negative and significant (b= -.6539, SE = .0788, p < .001, 95%CI = [-.8084, -.4994]). The direct effect of within-DMN RSFC on CBCL Total Problems T-scores (path B) was negative and significant (b= -6.6144, SE = 1.3145, p < .001, 95%CI = [-9.1912, -4.0376]), and the indirect effect was significant (IE = -.0192, SE = .0055, 95%CI = [-.0309, -.0096]), demonstrating a significant mediation. Our study provides preliminary support for the notion that positive parenting traits may reduce the risk for psychopathology in youth through their influence on the DMN. Given that the DMN is highly plastic in youth and may be particularly susceptible to environmental influences, it is possible that brain-related changes in childhood related to parenting may have long-term impacts on psychological functioning. Due to the cross-sectional nature of this study, we can only draw correlational inference; therefore, these relationships should be tested longitudinally.

Authors

• Kaley Davis, Fordham University
  Presenting Author

• Amy Krain Roy, Fordham University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Emily Hirsch, Fordham University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Dylan Gee, Yale University
  Non-Presenting Author