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Maternal Buffering of Adolescent Dysregulation in Socially Appetitive Contexts: From Behavior to the Brain
Author(s) -
Rogers Christina R.,
Perino Michael T.,
Telzer Eva H.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of research on adolescence
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.342
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1532-7795
pISSN - 1050-8392
DOI - 10.1111/jora.12500
Subject(s) - disinhibition , psychology , ventromedial prefrontal cortex , prefrontal cortex , amygdala , developmental psychology , offspring , neuroscience , cognition , pregnancy , biology , genetics
Adolescents are more susceptible to dysregulation in positive social contexts, compared to children. We investigated whether maternal presence would buffer these effects in adolescence. Fifty‐four adolescents and children (age range = 8–17 years, M age = 13.38 years) completed a social go‐nogo task during an f MRI scan alone and in the presence of their mother. We found age‐related patterns, such that older relative to younger youth displayed more disinhibition toward socially appetitive than socially aversive stimuli, which was buffered by maternal presence. Furthermore, with age, maternal buffering in socially appetitive contexts elicited heightened activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and amygdala–medial prefrontal cortex connectivity. Findings underscore the importance of caregivers in promoting the neural regulation of their offspring during adolescence.