Researcher(s)
- Madelynn Neyra, Psychology, University of Delaware
Faculty Mentor(s)
- Mary Dozier, Psychology, University of Delaware
Abstract
Adolescence is a period recognized as a stage of increased vulnerability to mental health problems, such as depression. During this time, there are many physical, mental, and emotional changes happening in the body. Mental health during this period is critical to overall well-being, which reinforces the importance of studying the factors that may moderate the association. Cortical thinning has previously been linked to an increased risk of depression, and thicker cortices are associated with established emotional regulatory capabilities and decreased vulnerability to mental health issues. Additionally, past research suggests that the quality of early care can impact the associations between cortical thickness and depressive symptoms. Thus, this study explores the influence of parental sensitivity on the association between cortical thickness and depressive symptoms. This study used 85 participants who were pulled from a larger, longitudinal study. Parental sensitivity, the moderator, is an observational measure found using the average scores across 2 coders for the party planning task at age 10. Cortical thickness at 13, one of the predictors, was determined using MRI brain scans. The outcome of these predictors comes from self-reported depressive symptoms at age 14. Parental sensitivity significantly moderated the association between cortical thickness and depressive symptoms (B= 0.051, SE= 0.024, p= 0.035). At low levels of sensitivity there is a significant negative relationship between cortical thickness and depressive symptoms, but at high levels of sensitivity there is a nonsignificant association between cortical thickness and depressive symptoms.This means that sensitive parenting may buffer the association between cortical thickness and depressive symptoms.