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Dorsomedial Prefrontal Activity to Sadness Predicts Later Emotion Suppression and Depression Severity in Adolescent Girls
Author(s) -
Vilgis Veronika,
Gelardi Kristina L.,
Helm Jonathan L.,
Forbes Erika E.,
Hipwell Alison E.,
Keenan Kate,
Guyer Amanda E.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.13023
Subject(s) - psychology , sadness , depression (economics) , ventromedial prefrontal cortex , prefrontal cortex , neuroimaging , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , cognition , neuroscience , anger , economics , macroeconomics
The present study used cross‐lagged panel analyses to test longitudinal associations among emotion regulation, prefrontal cortex (PFC) function, and depression severity in adolescent girls. The ventromedial and dorsomedial PFC (vmPFC and dmPFC) were regions of interest given their roles in depression pathophysiology, self‐referential processing, and emotion regulation. At ages 16 and 17, seventy‐eight girls completed a neuroimaging scan to assess changes in vmPFC and dmPFC activation to sad faces, and measures of depressive symptom severity and emotion regulation. The 1‐year cross‐lagged effects of dmPFC activity at age 16 on expressive suppression at age 17 and depressive symptomatology at age 17 were significant, demonstrating a predictive relation between dmPFC activity and both suppression and depressive severity.