Poster #17 - Associations of Distinct Dimensions of Childhood Adversity with Reward Processing & Longitudinal Psychopathology

• In Event: Poster Session 13

Abstract

Background: About 50% of children experience adversity, including experiences of threat and deprivation (Finkelhor et al., 2009; McLaughlin et al., 2012). These adverse experiences are associated with increased risk for psychopathology (McLaughlin et al., 2012). Identifying factors that underlie this robust link or protect children from developing psychopathology is critical. Reward processing has been implicated as both a mediator and moderator of psychopathology following adversity. Some studies show that behavioral reward processing moderates the association of adversity with psychopathology, such that more reward-sensitive youth are less likely to develop depression and externalizing problems after experiencing adversity (Dennison et al., 2019; Kasparek et al., 2020). In contrast, other studies have shown that blunted reward processing may be a mechanism linking early life adversity with depression in particular (Hanson et al., 2017; Sheridan et al., 2018). In a previous study, we demonstrate similar effects of blunted behavioral reward processing as a function of both early deprivation and trauma (Kasparek et al., 2020). The present study aims to replicate this finding in a new sample and clarify whether behavioral reward processing constitutes a moderating factor or serves as a mechanism linking adversity with psychopathology.

Methods: We examined whether threat and deprivation are associated with behavioral reward processing indices, including approach motivation and reward sensitivity, and whether these metrics of reward processing serve as moderators or mediators with future psychopathology. We recruited 227 participants aged 10-13 years old (M=11.58) with a wide range of adversity experiences. Participants completed comprehensive assessments of trauma and deprivation experiences that were used to create continuous composites reflecting the severity and frequency of threat and deprivation experiences. Depression and externalizing problems were assessed at baseline and two years later (n=206, 91% retention). A child-friendly version of the Monetary Incentive Delay task was used to index approach motivation (total points) and reward sensitivity (difference in RT between high/low-reward trials). All analyses were pre-registered (https://osf.io/z58by). Sex and age were included as covariates in all models; longitudinal psychopathology models controlled for baseline symptoms.

Results: Threat and deprivation were associated with greater increases in externalizing problems over time, and deprivation was additionally associated with greater increases in depression (ps < .05). Higher levels of threat were associated with reduced sensitivity to rewards (β = -.14, p < .05), which in turn was associated with greater increases in depression symptoms over time (b = -.003, p < .05). Reward sensitivity mediated the longitudinal association between threat experiences and depression symptoms (b = .18, 95% CI = [.01, .49]) (Figure 2). In contrast, increased sensitivity to rewards buffered the association between deprivation and increases in externalizing problems over time (β = -.16, p < .01) (Figure 1).

Conclusions: Together with findings from our previous work (Kasparek et al., 2020), results indicate that children who have experienced both deprivation and trauma who exhibit heightened sensitivity to rewards are buffered from worsening longitudinal externalizing problems. Additionally, lower reward sensitivity could be a mechanism that contributes to the onset of depression following early experiences of trauma.

Authors

• Aria Gastón-Panthaki, Harvard University
  Presenting Author

• Steven Kasparek, Harvard University

• Lindsay C Hanford, Harvard University

• Margaret A. Sheridan, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Liliana J Lengua, University of Washington

• Katie McLaughlin, Harvard University